Mix and Match
by wintercandyapple
Summary: Maria, Michelle and Kim are all single as of right now, but they don't plan on being so for long! But high schools relationships are not so simple. In fact, they can be very, very confusing. With different options to pursue, can they find the right match? Or will such romance elude them? That is, of course, assuming they can survive all that high school drama...
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Do not own Hetalia!

Note: Okay, so this fanfic is a spontaneous idea of mine that I couldn't get out of my head, so I had to write it! But it's defintely not crack, just sayin. It features my OC Philippines (Maria), Seychelles (Michelle) and Vietnam (Kim). I will explain the way the voting works at the end of this chap. Without further ado, enjoy!

* * *

"Wow, I just can't believe you and Antonio broke up," Mei frowned at her emotionally-exhausted friend from across the table. It was presently lunch hour at Heta High School, and Maria had finally mustered up the courage to tell her friends the bad news just as they finished eating.

"Well, I'm glad you dumped him," Michelle objected, putting a comforting hand on Maria's shoulder. "What else were you supposed to do? You deserve much more than that dirty cheater."

"What I have a hard time believing is that he actually cheated on you," Kim pondered thoughtfully. "Antonio of all people..."

"I found a thong in his backpack! And it definitely wasn't mine," Maria scowled, clenching her fists angrily at the recollection.

"If you say so, then I believe you," Kim amended quickly.

"I'm not mad at you," Maria sighed, trying to control her feelings. "I'm just having a hard time accepting this, that's all. How do you do it Mei? You're relationship with Tao is just so perfect!"

"No relationship is perfect," the Taiwanese girl replied seriously, "Tao and I just learn to move past our arguments and to trust each other, that's all." Mei truly was sad that Antonio and Maria had broken up; the two would always double date with her and Tao every so often, and they made the cutest couples, but it seemed as if that was a thing of the past now.

The Filipina girl rubbed her temples in frustration. "Trust is out of the question now," Maria mumbled bitterly.

Michelle tapped her finger to her chin in deep thought. Then she snapped her fingers, as if a light bulb lit up atop her head. "You know what this means?" she bubbled excitedly.

"What?" the three other girls asked simultaneously, Maria perking up at her ecstatic tone.

"You can't mingle unless you're single!" The Seychellois girl exclaimed happily. "It's time for us to browse the premises for potential boyfriends!" She turned to Mei apologetically, "Sorry, Mei but since you already have one, you can just give us your input."

"That's fine with me," Mei waved off, giggling.

"I don't know..." Kim trailed off uncertainly.

"Kim! It's time you started going out on dates again," Michelle chided. "You haven't gone out on a date, in like, ever!"

"Maybe I just don't like the options around here," Kim said defensively, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Well maybe you just haven't looked hard enough. You have to actually get to know the guys around here first," Mei urged gently. The Vietnamese girl sighed, and Michelle took that as an agreement.

"What do you say, Maria?" she asked, grinning encouragingly.

"Well...I guess it would be good to get my mind off of him," Maria finally said, earning a thrilled hug from her pig-tailed friend.

"Yay! This is going to be so much fun!" she squealed.

* * *

On the other side of the campus, Antonio was miserably staring at his sandwich, his appetite nonexistent, trying to keep himself together.

"Dude, rumor has it that you cheated on her," Alfred said tentatively, earning a glare from Lovino.

"That's a lie! I did not!" Antonio burst out, unable to control himself. Francis put a hand on his shoulder consolingly.

Gilbert tilted his head to the side. "I heard from Elizaveta that Maria found a thong in your bag and totally went off on you."

"I-I don't know how it got there! I'd never seen it before in my life!" the Spanish boy sputtered.

"Dude, you don't have to lie to us," Alfred said nonchalantly, his mouth full of food.

"Yeah, if you screwed up, then at least have the balls to admit it," Lovino huffed before sipping his water bottle.

"I'm telling you, I didn't cheat!" Antonio exclaimed again, but he knew that no matter how many times he said it, no one would believe him, especially since rumors spread like wildfire in high school...

* * *

After the bell had rung, signaling lunch hour was now over, Kim headed toward her next class, which was Chemistry. It was a subject that came easily to her, just like most of her other subjects since Kim was at the top of her class along with Yao Wang and Kiku Honda. In the back of her mind, she realized that there was a quiz today, but that didn't bother her at all. Instead, she kept thinking about what Michelle had told her, and was a bit embarrassed by the truth in her words. It was true she hadn't dated in a while, mainly because she was focusing on her studies. But it was also because she tended to avoid mixing with the opposite sex that often, since many of them proved to be insufferable to her.

The more Kim thought about it however, the more she realized that Michelle was probably right. Perhaps it really was time for her to start seeing people, and even consider that sort of relationship. But would she be able to juggle a long term relationship along with her school work and extracurricular activities? This was the question that troubled her the most, since the future was her highest priority. A good, stable job required a good college, which in turn required outstanding high school grades. But then again, a future was more than a job, right? It was also about building a family with someone. And to find that someone, she would need experience dating guys, wouldn't she? Yes, she decided. She would be able to juggle all those things. If anyone could, she could.

She walked into her class with new confidence as she took her usual seat next to her lab partner, Alice. She was a nice girl from Belgium with short blonde hair and a cheery personality, which was always good in a class as dull as Chemistry. Alice greeted her with a welcoming smile. "Hey Kim! Ready for the quiz?"

"Always am," she smiled back, taking out a pen.

"So I heard Antonio cheated on Maria? She's your friend, right?"

"Oh yeah, that's right. She was pretty upset about it at lunch," Kim frowned.

"Yeah, I can imagine how much it hurt to find out," Alice mused regretfully, "They looked so happy just a few days ago. It's crazy how a relationship can go downhill just like that."

"Yeah..." Suddenly Kim remembered another reason she was wary of dating. Alice was right, relationships can really hurt someone if things go completely wrong like that. And Kim didn't want any part of that. Getting close to someone involved risking the chance of heart ache. Trusting people was a very hard thing to do as well, Kim found herself thinking. Perhaps agreeing with Michelle wasn't the best of ideas.

* * *

When fourth block ended, Michelle immediately left the classroom and headed for her locker. Subconsciously entering in her combination into the lock, she exchanged her math book for her history one, then fixed the ribbons in her hair before shutting the locker again and turning to leave. As she did, she caught sight of Matthew Williams and Katyusha Braginski walking down the hall together, hand in hand. Now there was an adorable couple. A few months ago, Matthew's brother, Alfred F. Jones (they had different last names due to some weird custody situation that never really made sense to Michelle) convinced Matthew to "man up" and get the courage to confess his true feelings for Katyusha. It was a pretty big deal, because not only did Matthew have to fear Katyusha's reaction, but also her big brother Ivan's reactions. But luckily, Ivan had deemed Matthew a worthy enough person to go out with his sister, and now the two seemed as happy as could be.

Michelle realized she had been staring and looked away quickly, thankful that the two had yet to notice her, and began to stroll to her next class, which was World History. Strangely enough, it was one of her favorite classes, but not because she liked the topics at all. Her friends Maria and Mei also had the class with her and the teacher was super chill and laid back. As she made her way to the classroom, her thoughts wandered back to Matthew and Katyusha, and she felt a sense of longing tugged at her heart. The thing was, Michelle was a very playful type of girl, but she hardly ever engaged in a serious relationship. Sure, she flirted all the time, but it was all for fun and games. She had never really pursued someone long enough to go steady with them, but recently she found herself wanting more. More, as in finding a "significant other" as Mei would sometimes call it. Something like Mei and Tao, or Matthew and Katyusha.

While she did feel really bad for Maria's unlucky turn of events with Antonio, but now that she and Kim agreed to go boy-hunting with her, they could finally mix things up a bit. And she had to admit, Heta High did have a variety of options to chose from. Now that she really thought about it, it was an extremely diverse school. There were boys from all different countries here, and so there had to be someone out there that was her type, right? Some boys immediately popped into her head, the ones everybody talked about. She could rule a few of them out right away, knowing that she wouldn't be able to put up with them for too long, but others she began to seriously consider. And it was a good thing she was about to go to World History, because quite a few of those choices had the same class as her. As she entered the classroom, she smiled to herself. Let the mingling begin.

* * *

Maria glanced up from her compact mirror as Michelle sat down in the desk to her left. "Don't worry, Maria, you look awesome, as usual," she grinned.

"Thanks, I was just checking to make sure my cheeks weren't flushed," Maria sighed. Michelle frowned.

"Flushed from crying?" she asked in a low voice. Maria didn't answer, but just shut the mirror and put it back into her bag. As more people began to file in to the room, Mei came in and took the desk behind Maria, and Michelle nudged them both, giggling, "Time to observe our options, eh Maria?"

The Filipina rolled her eyes, but smiled, know Michelle was just trying to cheer her up. Then the bell rang once more, indicating the beginning of class, and Maria saw that they had a substitute teacher for the day. The substitute, a deeply tanned man with rich brown hair and two wild curls that were strikingly familiar. "Hello everyone, I'm Romulus Vargas, you're teacher for the day!" he introduced himself jubilantly.

"That's Feliciano and Lovino's grandfather," Mei whispered to Maria, who blinked in surprise.

Mr. Vargas's gaze swept over the room, before settling on Lovino's face. "Oh, look! Lovi's in this class," he clapped, beaming. His grandson blushed as laughter rippled throughout the room.

"Damnit Grandpa! Really?" he grumbled, annoyed.

Mr. Vargas just gave a hearty laugh. "Too bad Feli's not here too. Anyways, today we're just going to be watching a movie. It's about Ancient Rome!" The mood of the room stayed very light, since nobody ever paid any attention to movies during school, and spent most of the time passing notes instead.

As the movie began to play, Mr. Vargas went back to the computer, and everyone else knew that he wouldn't be watching over them at all, really. Maria actually tried watching the movie for a few minutes, but got bored fast and her eyes wandered the room. Then she froze. How could she forget Antonio had this class as well? Damn. Now she was thinking about the messy break up all over again. But the Spanish boy didn't look her way, not once, but just conversed quietly with Lovino. Michelle seemed to sense her darkening thoughts and tapped her shoulder. "Don't get caught staring," she reminded.

Maria nodded and glanced behind her, where Mei was staring off into the distance, undoubtedly daydreaming about Tao and their plans for the afternoon. She was so lucky, Maria thought, to have such a tight bond with him. Then she got to thinking, did she doing anything wrong? No, of course not! So why did he have to go and cheat on her!

Suddenly, an obnoxious laugh to her right startled her, and she whipped her head around to glare at her neighboring classmate, Yong Soo, a Korean boy who was obsessed about his heritage. But he didn't notice her glare, but was looking the other way. She followed his gaze and saw that he was watching a sheet of paper being passed around the room. Maria watched it for a few moments, then realized it was only being given to the guys in the class. Each guy would take it, read its contents, then mark it quickly before passing it on. She waited until the sheet of paper reached Yong Soo again, then snatched it right from his hands before he even knew what she was doing.

"What is this?" she asked sharply as she leaned away from Yong Soo, who was trying to grab it back frantically. Seeing his plight, Michelle and Mei leaned toward her to read over her shoulders in curiosity.

"Give that back!" Yong Soo demanded quietly.

Maria shook her head and began to read. It was titled, "Single Females in Our Grade" and under it read, "Mark if you like." Like? What was that supposed to mean? Under that was a list of names of girls in this grade, like the heading had said, and next to some of the names were tally marks. Maria skimmed the list as her friends did the same. Most of the names she recognized easily. Alice, Lili, Natalya...Then she saw her own name. Maria. And next to it were seven tally marks. Seven? That was a big number, Maria thought to herself. Did that mean seven people "liked" her, then? Were interested in her?

"Hey, look!" Michelle said, pointing under Maria's name. "There's my name! Six tallies...wow."

"And there's Kim's name," Mei pointed out. "She has five tallies."

Maria faced Yong Soo again, narrowing her eyes, "I bet you started this, didn't you?"

The Korean shrugged indifferently. "I wanted to see how much competition I had for the ladies," he smirked slyly.

"Pig," Maria accused disappointedly, "I seriously hope you didn't tally my name!"

"Ew, why would I ever do that?" Yong Soo replied with mock disgust, but Maria knew he was just teasing. The two had had a strictly platonic friendship ever since they were younger. He was practically an annoying brother to her.

"Why would anyone actually mark this?" Mei asked, confused.

"Because they also want to know if they have competition. I've marked quite a few girls on there myself," he winked.

Maria looked back down at the sheet of paper. Seven tallies. Who marked those and did they serious mean they were interested in her? She looked around the room, unable to help herself. She could tell Michelle was doing the same, trying to pick out who it was who marked her.

There was Yong Soo, but Maria knew he wouldn't have marked her. But he could have marked Michelle or Kim. There was Antonio, but he wouldn't mark her after cheating on her, so he couldn't be one of them. Who else...Her eyes went from face to face across the class. There was Alfred F. Jones, Arthur Kirkland, Lovino Vargas, Ridwan Saleh, Ludwig Beilschmidt, Kiku Honda, Francis Bonnefoy, Yao Wang and Jaidee Charoenkul.

Of course there were other guys in the class, but to be completely honest, Maria did care much about them. A girl's got to have standards. So her mind toyed with the idea of any of those nine putting a tally by her name. They were all hot, she admitted, in their own ways. When she turned back to Michelle, she saw that the other girl's eyes were just as calculating, and she was probably picking out those same nine. Deciding to keep the sheet of paper, she folded it in half and shoved it into her binder to Yong Soo's dismay.

"Hey, I didn't get to read it yet, da ze!" he complained. "I want to see what everyone else put down."

"Too bad, it's mine now," Maria taunted. Kim would also want to get a look at it as well.

And for the rest of the class, neither Maria nor Michelle even bothered listening to the movie, but just went over their new possibilities in their heads.

* * *

From the Author: Okay, I know I shouldn't be doing this since I'm already in the middle of Destructive Desires, but I couldn't help myself! This is my first high school AU. Anyways, you all know that as a fanfic author, I love writing for you all, the audience that is, but I'm writing this fic for fun :) But to prove that I'm not being a selfish author, I'll let you guys vote on which pairing you want the three main characters to be with! Cool, right?

So here's how it works: Michelle, Maria and Kim will each be paired with one of the eleven guys mentioned in the World History class. (The eleven being the nine Maria mentioned plus Yong Soo and Antonio). But you guys get to choose who their boyfriends will be in the end!(For those of who you don't know, Jaidee is thailand and Ridwan is Brunei, and the rest of them you can Google if you don't know. Or PM me.)

How to Vote: PLEASE SEND VOTES AS PMs! NOT REVIEWS! thanks! You see, I want the voting to be a secret so that the final pairing will be a surprise :D So, please send me a Private Message telling me which guys you want each girl to be with. Note that one guy cannot have two girls. It should look sorta like this:

Mariax(insert choice) Michellex(insert choice) and Kimx(Insert choice)

Or you can use their country names if thats easier.

Okay, if you are going to vote, please also review my story! If you do, I'll be extra careful to count your vote ;) jk! But seriously, review please! Anyways, thanks for reading! Voting closes around Ch. 4 so please vote soon!


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Hetalia. Yeah, it's not mine.

Note: Okay guys, this is how this is all going to go down: for a majority of the story, the three girls are going to be mixing around with several of the eleven guys mentioned in the first chapter, but only the several that received votes (Voting is still open, so PM me if you haven't yet! See rules from Chap. 1). Anyway, please, **please** note that the guys they see in this chapter does not necessarily mean that those are the set pairings, because in each chapter the three will all get closer to different guys until the closing chapters. So until the closing chapters, the final pairings remain a mystery...Enjoy!

* * *

By the time the bell rang for the start of school the next day, Maria was already in her seat for her first class: Art. It was a fairly easy and laid-back class, but Maria wanted to be well-rounded in all subjects, so she chose to take it. However, none of her good friends decided to join her, so she didn't know the people in her class all that well on the first day. But gradually she came to know her neighboring classmate, Feliciano Vargas, one of the Italian twins who was insanely good with the subject. Seriously, how could someone whip up masterpieces so fast? He was a nice guy, always flashing that brilliant smile of his, and even though he tended to be a little spastic and kind of clueless, his positive attitude attracted many friends. That was the best kind of popularity, in Maria's opinion.

The Art classroom didn't have normal individual desks, but seven large tables that sat four students at a time instead. Maria and Feliciano shared a table with Elizaveta Héderváry, a Hungarian girl who knew just about everything about everyone, and Matthew Williams, a quiet student who seemed to disappear at times. Today, their assignment was to paint a landscape that reflected the inner emotions that they felt that morning. Once everyone started working, the teacher honestly didn't care at all whether students conversed, as long as they were doing something related to art.

"Maria, are you okay?" Elizaveta frowned, looking over at her painting, which was an unfinished gloomy image of a storm at sea with dark gray clouds overhead.

"I'm just fine," Maria replied curtly, glancing over at hers, a soft meadow with pink and yellow flowers.

"No, you're not," the Hungarian insisted, seeing her sad painting. "Let me guess, this is about your ex-boyfriend." Maria didn't answer, but instead just kept dabbing her brush in the gray sky on her canvas.

"I heard about that," Feliciano cocked his head curiously. "Lovino told me that you think Antonio cheated on you."

"Think? I know he did," Maria said matter-of-factly, not wanting to talk about this topic.

"I don't think he did," Feliciano maintained persistently, "He's not the kind of person who would do that."

"Look," she sighed, "Can we talk about something else?"

"You need some cheering up," clapped Elizaveta, "And I have just the thing to say!"

Maria, Feliciano, and Matthew looked up inquiringly. "Tomorrow night, Gilbert is holding a huge party down by the beach with a huge bonfire! And the band's going to be there too!"

"Oh, Alfred told me about that. He's going along with the other football jockeys," Matthew mused, as he continued to paint a sunset over the ocean.

"Ve, Ludwig was complaining to me about it too! He says his brother won't call it off and that he'll probably end up going to make sure Gilbert doesn't lose it," Feliciano chuckled.

Maria had also known about the party. As Gilbert's best friend, Antonio had been planning on taking her as a date, but that was before she found out about the underwear in his bag.

"So are guys are going then?" Elizaveta asked, "I'm going to be there."

"Ve, I am too!"

"I don't think Katyusha wants to go, so no," Matthew shrugged.

"What about you Maria?"

"I don't know," she answered sheepishly.

"C'mon! This is exactly the opportunity you need," Elizaveta grinned knowingly, "All the hottest guys in the school are going to be there and you need to get your mind off your ex."

Maria thought about this for a moment. She thought back to the sheet of paper she had stolen from Yong Soo yesterday. Perhaps she could find out who tallied her name there. "Alright, I think I will go," she smiled.

"Great! Hopefully it'll be as awesome as Gil says it'll be," Elizaveta giggled.

* * *

By the time lunch rolled around, news about Gilbert's big party had spread throughout the school. Various groups and cliques around the campus were buzzing about how the beach bonfire party would easily turn into a rave. Apparently, Gilbert really knew how to throw a party.

"I wonder if the band's going to be any good. It's a local band, right?" Mei asked.

"Yeah, the members go to our school, remember?" Michelle laughed, "I forget what their band name is though, since they're always changing it."

"Oh, right! Who's in it again?" Kim inquired. Normally, such carousing wasn't her thing, but Michelle was practically forcing her to go to the party after she agreed to go boy-hunting with her. It was a Friday night thing, so it wasn't like she was going to be behind on her school work anyway.

"Hmm...I think it's Mathias, Emil, Lukas, Tino, and Berwald, but I forgot who does what," Michelle replied.

"I think their name right now is the Nordic Five," Maria giggled to herself. She had never heard them play, but she had heard that they were pretty decent. With everyone talking about the party, she herself couldn't help but get all wound up as well. The hottest guys, huh?

"Whatever it is, I can't wait til tomorrow night!" Mei bubbled. "I can never get Tao to dance, but I'll bait him into dancing tomorrow."

"And meanwhile, the three of us will be busy scoping out the hotties," Michelle smirked.

Kim didn't really like the way Michelle talked about finding guys as if they were shopping for clothing, but she supposed Michelle didn't know how else to talk about it without sounding...intimate or something. To be honest, she was getting quite nervous about the party. What would she wear? She hadn't danced in a while...did she still know how? Oh boy.

* * *

The drive down to the beach was about an hour long, even with Maria speeding half of the time, and the sun was just about set by the time they arrived. Smartly, Maria had parked a few minute's walk away from the beach, knowing that to park too close would be an invitation to car thieves. Maria and her two passengers, Michelle and Kim, hopped out of the car and began to make their way down to the beach. As they drew nearer, they could see the smoke rising from the giant bonfire set in the middle of the sand, which stretched out for about a mile to the right, and ended at a tall cliff that rose up to the left. Small, gentle waves crashed at the shoreline, and Maria saw that the band had just placed their stuff on the sandy surface, just about ready to play.

"There's so many people here already," Kim pointed out as they stepped onto the beach. She was right; there had to be at least a hundred and fifty teenagers here already, and there was probably another hundred still planning to come later.

"I just hope no one ends up calling the cops," Michelle mused. She wore a casual, light blue dress that went well against her skin, and had her hair in two pigtails adorned with big, red ribbons as usual. Meanwhile, Kim sported a lush green, sleeveless dress that complimented her curves and tied her hair into a side ponytail. Maria was dressed in a white tank top and maroon skirt, and let her hair fall past her shoulders with light wavy locks.

The band began to play alternative music, and that's when the party really got going. People started to get hyped up and dance, and although most of them were dirty dancing, Kim appreciated the fact that some of them were decent enough. Apparently Gilbert was able to arrange for a taco truck vendor to come down and make some easy money. Guys were handing out drinks they brought with them, but Maria warned her friends to stay away from those beverages, since they could have easily been tampered with. There were many familiar faces, and the three girls even saw Mei and Tao standing with their feet in the water, but decided to give them some alone time. A majority of the people were dancing and socializing with others, while some went over to the shoreline or stayed near the bonfire. With the music blaring and such a high energy atmosphere, it was hard not to get amped up for the night.

"Keep your phones on vibrate," Michelle advised, as her eyes swept the crowds of teenagers.

"Wait, we're splitting up?" Kim frowned nervously.

"Well, we can't go for the same guys, now can we?" Michelle giggled. "Good luck." She winked then disappeared into the mass of bodies dancing in front of the band.

"Just don't drink anything a stranger gives you and you'll be fine. Play aloof, because you know you deserve a more than the average guy," Maria beamed at Kim. Then she too went on her own.

Kim sighed. Aloof? Could she even pull that off? Now she really starting to regret coming here...until she recognized the familiar long dark brown ponytail that sat on his shoulder. "Yao? Is that you?"

The Chinese guy turned around at the sound of his name. Kim bit her lip, wishing she had thought before speaking, because now she not only had his attention, but also the attention of his friends, Jaidee, Yong Soo, and Ridwan. "Ni hao, Kim. I didn't know you were going to be here."

"Yeah, normally I don't come to these things, but Maria and Michelle convinced me to come," Kim answered, not sure what else to say. Great, now she probably sounded like a nerd or something.

But Yao just laughed at her response coolly. "Yong Soo dragged me here as well," he said, gesturing at the Korean.

"You should be thanking me by the way!" Yong Soo crossed his arms. "I'm totally doing you a favor, da ze."

"Aren't you afraid of more 'competition?'" Kim laughed and the Korean's smile faltered. "Maria told me about the list of names on the paper."

Yao put his hand to his forehead. "Really, Yong Soo? Really?"

"Hey! You marked the paper too," he retorted, to Yao's embarrassment. "And Maria wouldn't even give me back the paper."

"Maria has the paper?" Ridwan frowned, wavering. "Well, at least we only marked it with tallies instead of our names."

"Good thing, too," Jaidee said in relief. For a fleeting second his eyes flickered on Kim, giving her a strange smile. But then he quickly looked away, leaving Kim a bit confused, unsure how to decipher such a gesture.

"Anyway, we're here to party," Yong Soo cut in abruptly, "So let's party." He brought his plastic cup to his lips and chugged the rest of his drink down his throat, Kim wondering what its contents were, but then he grinned stupidly and asked, "So how about a dance, Kim?"

This caught her off guard. "Um...I-I don't know," she stuttered. "Dancing is...not really my thing either."

"Aw, c'mon, if you don't know how, then let me show you," he encouraged, and his smile was so broad, Kim felt she had no choice but to accept.

"Al-alright," she said reluctantly, taking his hand. Yong Soo led her deeper into the crowd of people moving to the band's music. Finding a suitable spot, he stopped and turned to face her again.

"So I lied back there. It's impossible to teach someone how to dance," he yelled over the loud music. "But all you have to do it lose yourself to the sounds and melody. Like this." Then he began to bounce and move to the beat of the song like those around them.

Kim hesitated again, but Yong Soo, and everyone else around him, seemed to be enjoying themselves so much, that she tried to follow his instruction. She let all the tension leave her body and just allowed herself to be swallowed by the beat. And even she had to admit, it felt so good.

* * *

"Jai, what are you doing?" Ridwan asked uneasily. His Thai friend was sitting on the sand, cup in hand, away from the mass of people. Not even five minutes ago he was conversing lightly with Yao, Yong Soo and Ridwan, but suddenly, he seemed to turn off, crestfallen.

"I don't feel like talking to other people," Jaidee sighed, sipping his drink.

"Give me that," Ridwan snapped, yanking the cup from his hand and bring it up to his nose for a sniff. "Jai! That's too strong for you. You told me you don't even like to drink alcohol!" He poured out the cup in the sand and threw it aside.

"Hey! That was mine," he glared up at him, but then gazed back to the crowd of dancing people.

"Why are you just standing there? It's like you just gave up," Ridwan scolded, "You didn't even try to talk to her when she came up to us!"

Jaidee, startled by his words, glanced back up at his friend, who stood over him in disappointment, and sputtered, "I-I couldn't! I couldn't think of anything to say to her..."

"Well, you know what she's doing right now; she's out there dancing," Ridwan repudiated, "So go out there and find her! Go out and dance."

"But...I can't dance," he shuddered miserably.

"Kim just said she didn't know how either! Stop making excuses for yourself and get off your sorry ass," Ridwan demanded. He didn't like to curse at his friend, but he knew that only by being harsh would he get through to him.

And he was right, Jaidee seemed to spark to life again and got on his feet. "You're right!" he declared and started marching over to the dance floor to seek out the Vietnamese girl. Ridwan blinked, then found himself laughing at his friend's sudden change in attitude. After a moment, he decided to wander around and see if he could find certain someone to dance with too.

* * *

"Ve! Maria! You came!" Feliciano called merrily, catching his classmate's attention. Hearing his cheery voice, Maria came over to him at the edge of the crowd.

"I told you I'd come," she giggled. The Italian was in such a good mood as always, hopping from clique to clique freely, since everyone welcomed his bright presence.

"Ve, how about a dance? Just one song?" he asked, flashy that trademark toothy grin of his.

"Sure, why not?" she agreed, knowing it would be a friendly dance, not an intimate one.

"So, you're sure I can't convince you to talk to Antonio again?" he asked over the music as they rocked out to the band.

"Sorry, Feli, I know he's your friend. But I'm not ready to see him at all yet," Maria put it blatantly.

Feliciano didn't answer for a moment, as if he was thinking, then grabbed her wrist out of nowhere. "Okay then," he said, "I want to introduce you to some of my friends!" Leaving her with no choice, he pulled her away from the dance floor and towards the shoreline.

* * *

"It's pathetic, Luddy," Gilbert chided his younger brother by one year. "You haven't had a girl in forever! And you're a badass football player! I can't believe it. You need to step up your game."

Ludwig grunted, his boots burying deeper into the wet sand of the shoreline, "Why don't you go back to your party?" Meanwhile, Kiku just smiled to himself, listening to the two German brothers scoff at each other like they normally do. Ocean water washed over his bare feet, a content feeling coming over him.

"Look, even Feliciano goes out with girls all the time, and he doesn't even do any sports! He's not even toned really," Gilbert continued. "Here he comes right now, and oh look, he's bringing a GIRL with him."

Sure enough, Feliciano was heading their way, tugging Maria along with him. "Ve! Hey guys! I want you to meet a friend from my Art class. Her name's Maria!" he sang enthusiastically.

"Hey," she gave the three guys a friendly smile. Of course, she had already known their names after having classes with them, but she had never formally met them.

"And this is Ludwig, Gilbert, and Kiku," the Italian continued.

"Nice to meet you," Ludwig said politely.

"A pleasure," Kiku smiled back cordially.

"Hey, wait, you're Antonio's ex," Gilbert realized after regarding her carefully.

"Yeah," Maria rolled her eyes. She did _not_ come all this way here to be reminded of her cheating ex-boyfriend again. The whole point was to move on! "But I don't need him anymore. That's why I'm here, to have fun," she added to make her point.

"Just like everyone else here," Gilbert chuckled. "I'm so awesome I decided to share it with the school by throwing this party! Except Luddy here is being a kill-joy."

The blonde gave his brother an exasperated look. "I'm not stopping you from partying as long as you don't lose control of yourself," he said bluntly.

"C'mon Ludwig! Just try to have fun," Feliciano pouted. Then the Italian and the albino proceeded to try to pester his best friend so much that he would have no choice but to agree to lighten up.

While they did that, Maria and Kiku found themselves on the edge of the group, spectators of the rather amusing scene. "They're like water and oil but they're all still really tight with each other," Maria observed, laughing as Feliciano began to poke the stubborn German in the cheek.

"Hai, but their friendship is good for both of them," Kiku mused at the two.

"So," Maria began, changing the subject, "How come you aren't on the makeshift dance floor?"

He paused, before answering reluctantly, "Well...I don't like dancing like that." His gaze shifted to the crowd of teenagers in front of the band, in which a few couples on the outside were grinding on each other shamelessly.

"I see what you mean," Maria sighed, but noted that fact that he was modest and reserved. Suddenly she found herself studying not only his personality, but also his physical lineaments. His complexion was stunningly perfect, just like his silky black hair, and his brown eyes seemed to be jaded and mysterious. She knew by his grades that he was very intelligent, but she never had taken the time to actually get to know him better, and now she was curious about the real Kiku Honda.

Then he caught her staring, and she looked away sharply, blushing furiously and cursing herself. As she turned away abruptly, his cheeks also turned slightly pink, but Maria didn't see it. But, she didn't want the moment to become extremely more awkward than it already was, and to avoid that she had to keep talking. Too bad she didn't think before she spoke either. "You know, we don't have to dance like that," she shrugged coolly before she realized what she had said. When she did break down and analyze her own exact words, she felt like having a mini panic attack. The way she had phrased her sentence implied that "we" meant herself and Kiku, and that was later followed by "dance," further implying that she wanted the two of them to dance _together_. How could she have been so stupid? That made things even more awkward, the very thing she was trying to avoid...!

But of course, Maria was only second guessing herself and over-thinking things like teenage girls usually do when it comes to guys, so Kiku didn't find her sentence awkward at all, but he did sense her uneasiness. He was about to ask if she was okay, when the song that had been playing came to an end, and Mathias had taken the microphone, announcing, "Okay guys! We've had a couple of requests for a slow song, so here we go! Time to grab a dancing partner!"

As if on cue, Mei and Tao popped up at Maria's side, the Taiwanese girl pouting at her best friend. "Maria! Tao won't dance with me because he's self conscious about his dancing. Make him dance with me!"

Maria blinked, surprised, and gave Mei's Asian boyfriend a look that said _really?_

"I can't dance!" Tao said defensively. While Kiku was giving Tao a sympathetic look, Mei caught Maria's eye and winked. That's when Maria understood that Tao was faking it because Mei asked him too. Mei was giving her a chance to come out and dance with them too, like the considerate best friend she was.

"I know," Maria said, coming up with a "solution" for him, "I'm not much of a dancer either, so if we both went out there, it wouldn't be so bad. But the only problem is I don't have a partner..."

"Kiku!" Mei exclaimed, "Can you be her partner so Tao will go dance with me and feel less self conscious?"

"H-hai," he answered, surprised as well, but not in a negative way, to Maria's delight.

"Great! Thanks," Mei beamed and took Tao's wrist and dragged him onto the dance floor as the slow song began to play. Kiku offered Maria his hand, and she took it daintily, trying her hardest not to blush again. The two followed Mei and Tao to where other couples were slow dancing, and then followed their example. Maria draped her arms on his shoulders as Kiku gingerly put his around her waist. Rocking deftly and gracefully to the music, they found themselves lost in each others' eyes for a brief moment, and a soft smile crept its way onto Maria's face.

"You lied, didn't you? You're an excellent dancer," Kiku chuckled lightly.

"Just to make Tao feel better, but he seems to be doing fine," she laughed quietly, glancing past Kiku's shoulders to see Mei resting her head on Tao's shoulder as they swayed.

"This kind of dance I can do," he murmured thoughtfully.

"Me too," she whispered in agreement.

* * *

Michelle had been partying her way through the crowds of people, but her search for a decent guy continued with no avail. Of course, she had been hit on multiple times, but only by obvious, selfish assholes who only believed in one-night-stands. And that was definitely _not_ was she was looking for. Soon her spirits had begun to plummet, and it occurred to her that there might not be any worthy guys here for her at all. Or maybe romance just tended to avoid her.

After still another jerk tried to pull a move on her, Michelle grew frustrated. How come there were so many more assholes out there than nice guys? Seriously, what's up with that? And suddenly she couldn't take it anymore, and she knew that being irked like this during a party wasn't way she wanted to roll, so she decided "calm down." Before she knew it, and she wasn't even sure how she got it, she held a plastic red cup in her hand. After taking a whiff, she concluded that it wasn't too strong of an alcoholic beverage, and that it was probably safe to take a couple sips, which she did. And that probably wasn't the best idea.

However, realizing that it was, in fact, much too strong, she poured it out to keep from consuming any more of the distasteful liquid. Now she was even more irritated, and irrationally this time, especially since a little alcohol had entered her system. She wasn't drunk to be precise, but perhaps a bit tipsy, and from there she proceeded to make her way back to the dance floor to cool off, but she found she could not let go of this aggravation that buzzed in the back of her head. It was like everywhere she looked, there was a couple hugging or making out or holding hands. Was the universe trying to make fun of her or something?

Suddenly a gentle hand caressed her shoulder, and she whirled around, startled. A guy with wavy, blonde locks was smirking at her seductively, his pearly white seeming to sparkle or maybe she was just hallucinating. "Would you like to dance, _mon cher_?" he asked charmingly.

"Hell no, not with another pervert like you!" Michelle slapped his hand away, slurring slightly. Under normal circumstances, she wouldn't have been so rude, and she would not have quickly assumed that he was like all the other assholes, but she wasn't exactly thinking straight, and her bad mood impacted her skepticism. If she hadn't been so cynical at the moment, she might've actually given the poor guy a chance, but Michelle was in a rare hot-temper this time.

On the other end of the stick, Francis was completely taken aback but her unexpected reaction. Had she read his thoughts and taken it the wrong way? Sure, he had been thinking some inappropriate thoughts, but they were more romantic than horny (or maybe a bit of both), and besides, how could he not, after seeing a beautiful girl such as her? He had anticipated a positive reaction from her after using his entrancing voice and handsome smile, but she had shook him off within seconds. This was not the way girls usually responded to him, and at first he really didn't know what to think of her. But then after a closer look, he guessed by her wobbly disposition and flushed cheeks that she was...not all there for the time being. Particularly, she reminded him of one of his friends who also acted quite erratic and cantankerous after having a few drinks.

"_Mon cher_, don't be like that, I promise I'm not like any of those other asses," Francis chuckled, staying pleasant to convince her that there was more to him than just sexual impulses and hormones.

"Yeah, well, could have fooled me," Michelle snorted. "You'll just have to find some other girl to whore around with."

At this, Francis frowned, almost a bit offended, and he would have been if she wasn't tipsy. "I have more class than that," he pursed his lips at her paranoid behavior.

"No one knows the meaning of class anymore," she grumbled pessimistically. "I'm not sure I do either. On that note, she brusquely turned on her heels and stalked away in her storm of jumbled emotions, leaving Francis utterly dumbfounded, his mouth hanging open. Nobody had ever stood him and his gorgeous looks up like that. _Ever_. But for some strange reason, he wasn't able to just walk away as if nothing had happened. Instead, he took it as a challenge. He could prove to her that he knew what class was even if she didn't. If anyone could brighten up her romantic life, it was him, right?

Meanwhile, Michelle had lost herself in the crowds, leaving no way for Francis to follow. As she wandered around aimlessly, her thoughts began to clear a bit, though her paranoia still hung about her. After a few minutes, she became much sharper again and decided to find her friends to see if they had any luck tracking down a decent guy, but Michelle didn't think they could have much hope if she didn't find any. Out of nowhere, Mathias grabbed the microphone and announced a slow song, and people who didn't particularly like dancing to slow songs left the dance floor, making it easier to look. After glancing around, Michelle saw that Maria had found a partner to sway with while Mei was with Tao. A little ways to the left, even Kim had found a guy to dance with...wait, was that Jaidee with her? Since when did that happen? Not that it mattered anyway, Michelle thought as she shook her head. Now she was the only one of their boy-hunting trio that was alone on the dance floor. To keep from looking like a total loner, she chose to walk towards the bonfire, her heart sinking. On her way, however, someone called her name. "Michelle!"

She turned in the direction of the caller to see Alfred coming towards her along with another guy who was a familiar face from one of her classes, but since her brain was still a little muddled, she could not recall his name. "Alfred?" she said questioningly. She and the football jockey had an unusual relationship; they would often flirt and tease each other playfully, but it never escalated beyond simple fun and friendship, and Michelle doubted it ever would. But she wasn't sure she would ever want it to, since Alfred didn't seem to be her type and whenever he became single, he never stayed that way for long.

"Hey," he greeted with a bright smile, "I'll get to point real quick since I have a girl waiting for me on the dance floor, okay?" He winked and Michelle just rolled her eyes and but then grinned back to indicate she was listening. "So I'm trying to help my friend out, his name's Arthur." He gestured to his friend, a guy who was undoubtedly British with insanely thick eyebrows, radiant green eyes, blonde hair and a semi-nervous expression on his face.

"Hello," Arthur attempted sheepishly, obviously mad at Alfred for forcing him to do this.

Michelle could see this encounter was against his will, and Alfred had probably goaded Arthur into this, but she humored him anyway, since she mildly trusted Alfred. Scratch that; she knew Alfred never really had harmful intentions, and even if he did, he probably wasn't clever enough to come up with a devious plan by himself. "Hey," she plastered her own smile on her face, matching the Brit's queer politeness. She turned back to Alfred, eyebrow raised. "What's this about again?"

"A slow song just started playing and Arthur here needs a dance partner, so I thought you could help me out by helping him out," blue-eyed teen winked, and Arthur's mouth fell open at his friend's outright bluntness, flushing in embarrassment.

"Alfred!" he exclaimed, flustered. "You bloody git! That's not...!" He looked back and forth between her and his friend helplessly, not knowing how to phrase his quandary.

For reasons unknown to even her, Michelle found this strangely funny. "Alright," she giggled. "I'll dance with you so Alfred doesn't have to worry."

This made Arthur blush even more, but Alfred laughed that trademark laugh of his and thanked her before bounding back to the dance floor to find his girl, leaving Michelle and Arthur alone. "He's insufferable," grumbled Arthur as he watched his friend go.

"But everyone loves him all the same," Michelle grinned. "So let's go before the song ends." After going back to the makeshift dance floor, she put her arms on Arthur's shoulders as he placed his delicately on her waist, and she noticed the space between them, only because there actually was a little space between them. She expected him to be like the other guys, all up on her and against her body-but he wasn't. Instead, he kept elegant posture and danced with very defined motions. "You _are_ in the eleventh grade, right?" she whispered in astonishment.

"Yes," he answered, puzzled by her question. "Why?" Those sparkling green eyes of his seemed to twinkle in the luminescence of both the moon and the bonfire.

"Just wondering," she shrugged off. "Because you dance like we're in a...ball or something."

"Does that bother you?" He raised an eyebrow, trying to interpret that comment.

"No, not really," Michelle gave a small smile. In fact, she actually thought it was kind of cute, but she didn't want to admit it. To her surprise, when the song ended, Michelle was a bit disappointed that the band began to play high energy music again. But she glanced back up at Arthur and decided that maybe this night wasn't a total bust after all.

* * *

"So you don't usually go to parties like these?" Maria asked as she and Kiku ambled towards the bonfire. The slow song had just ended, so the two decided to escape the mass of bodies that began to crowd the area and go to the bonfire instead.

"No, not really," he replied matter-of-factly, "But Feliciano convinced me to come." He paused, as if contemplating something and then added shyly, "But I'm glad I came this time."

Maria's heart skipped at beat, wondering if it was vain to assume that he was glad because he had met _her_ here, but what other implication could he mean by that statement? "I almost didn't come either, but I feel the same way," she concurred wholeheartedly. It was strange; she hadn't felt this way since...well, the first time she met Antonio. But Kiku was a totally different person, and not to mention how much harder it was to try to read his subtle expressions. His face seemed to give away none of this inner thoughts, making it impossible to guess what he was really thinking.

When they had reached the blazing fire that glowed in the night air, Kiku said, "I think I'm going to get something to drink, would you like something too?"

"Sure," she nodded, "Just nothing alcoholic."

"Of course," Kiku chuckled, then went away to find them some refreshing beverages. Meanwhile, Maria took a few steps back to admire the licking flames. The blaze captivated her with its fiery beauty, but it was always ready to burn anyone who got too close.

After a moment, her thoughts drifted again, and she wondered in the back of her mind how her friends were doing. She hadn't seen Michelle in a while, but she had seen Kim dancing with Jaidee whilst she was with Kiku; she would have to ask Kim about that later, and the three girls would have to trade stories on the ride home.

"Hey Maria," someone said from behind her, grabbing her attention. She blinked, and turned to see Ridwan coming up next to her with a pleasant smile on his face.

"Oh, hey Ridwan!" she greeted back just as affably.

"Having fun at the party?" he asked casually, to make conversation.

"Yeah, actually," Maria answered optimistically, "I was pretty upset the past few days, but now I feel like myself again."

"Glad to hear you're feeling better," he grinned. While he had spoken, Maria had absentmindedly brushed her hair back with her fingers, but Ridwan didn't miss it. He adored the deep brown color of her glossy hair, and her brown eyes reminded him of luscious chocolate. Maria had been disconcerted the past few days, but Ridwan had felt the opposite when he heard that Maria had become single again. To be completely honest, his crush on her had blossomed months ago, but he never mustered up the courage to try to get close to her, and by the time he had, it was too late and she was already dating Antonio.

And now this was his chance to ask her for a dance. The party and the breakup was so perfectly timed, the universe had to be giving him a sign! Here he was, conversing easily with her, and the party was the perfect place to forge a better relationship with her. Ridwan had just opened his mouth to ask her if she wanted to dance, when Kiku came back and took his place at her side, holding two plastic red cups in his hands. Taking one of the cups, Maria peered in hesitantly, but Kiku reassured, "It's just fruit punch. Don't worry, I checked."

"Alright, just making sure," Maria giggled before taking a sip.

And that's when Ridwan realized that he still had competition for Maria.

* * *

From the Author: Okay, so as you can see, the three girls will be mixing and matching with several different guys for quite a few chapters before they settle in with an official boyfriend! The guys you saw them with in this chapter are NOT the only options. I'll introduce more guys in the next chapters. And so, I'll keep the poll a secret, so the final pairings won't be revealed til the end!

FYI, Tao is Hong Kong. And another FYI, you cannot vote twice, but you can change your vote. If you want to change it, please tell me the original vote followed by the vote you want it to be. TO VOTE: please see the rules at the end of chapter one.

Wow, you guys gave me a wild variety of votes! I'm sorry to say that I can't please everyone, but I hope you all enjoy the story even still! Special thanks to: Shiro Hikaru, Sunny Akutsu, ChocoKoko, ChaosGirl607, gummi-narwhal, Juusan13, Emo Dreamer, itgirl18, NinjaRoll, Ayumi Kudou, and Lucestellare! If I somehow screwed up big time and forgot to put someone's name in here, please PM and I'll fix it, because that probably means I also missed your vote. Thanks so much you guys! I really appreciate all of your reviews and comments and votes!

Anyways, voting closes soon so please PM me if you havent! And pretty please review! Thanks and see you next chapter!


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Anyone who thinks I own Hetalia is utterly mistaken. It's not mine.

Note: I know you'd rather read the story than this, so go ahead and enjoy!

* * *

The next morning Kim was sluggish from the previous night of dancing and staying up later than usual, even though Maria had driven them home at a decent time, around midnight. In fact, Kim moved around the house in such a haze that her mother questioned whether she was on a hangover, and if so, threatened to give her a stern talking-to. But Kim reassured her that she knew how to make smart decisions, even under peer pressure, and perked up to prove her point. It was a Saturday morning, so after her mother left to carry out a few errands, she decided to relax on a lounging chair in her backyard under the awning. She had planned to pass a couple of hours enjoyably rereading _Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows_, but found that it was difficult for her to focus on the book. Instead, her mind began to replay the party from last night, from her dance lesson with Yong Soo to the slow dance with Jaidee. The latter seem to come from nowhere- one minute she was bouncing to the energetic music with the Korean, and the next Jaidee had stepped in and asked her his dancing partner for the slow song.

In all honesty, Kim had not expected it; sure, she was acquainted with Jaidee since they had several classes together this semester, but she didn't know him that well. And then there was Yong Soo. Technically, he had asked her to dance as well, just not a slow song. But he had lure her in so casually, she wasn't sure how to interpret it. Was it a just a friendly dance? Or something more? The Korean never grinded on her nor showed any intent of doing so, which was good because she would have curtly turned him down within seconds. Subconsciously closing the book, she contemplated the two guys in her head, Yong Soo with his animated, dynamic personality, and Jaidee with his lighthearted , somewhat shy (which she found sort of cute in a way) demeanor. As it turned out, boy-hunting at the party wasn't a total waste of time after all. But Kim wondered if the two were really possible options for her, and if they both were, which one she would pick, given she had the choice to make. After a moment, no clear-cut answer came to her, and she then concluded that it was possible to crush on more than one person at a time equally.

On the car ride home, Maria, Michelle and Kim had exchanged their stories with each other, but not too many details, mainly because the girls were unsure how to deal with their "findings" themselves, but rather highlights of their time at the party. Maria wholeheartedly described her time with Kiku, who she claimed intrigued her with his natural aloofness. Michelle expressed her disappointment with the selection of guys at the party, though she did mention one cute, quasi-decent British guy she shared a slow dance with on behalf of Alfred. Kim almost felt bad for the poor Seychellois; Michelle had been the most opportunistic and excited, but she had the hardest time at the party. Maria and herself had been successful, or at least better than she had expected- but then again, one night with a guy or two didn't really mean anything until they got to know each other better. While it takes multiple positive traits to warm up to someone, one bad characteristic is all that is needed to ruin a relationship.

Kim sighed and put the book aside, knowing that with her thoughts running around in circles, she'd never be able to concentrate on reading. Closing her eyes, she lay back on the chair for a moment, emptying her mind. Abruptly, her phone vibrated in her lap, the screen indicating an incoming call from Maria. Hastily, she picked up. "Hi, Maria, what's up?"

"O.M.G. Kim!" was her incredulous reply, "Antonio just texted me saying he really wants to talk things out because he misses me. He said he needs me to hear him out. I don't know what to do!"

Kim paused for a moment. It was unlike Maria to be so unsure about something like this, especially because she had been extremely pissed at Antonio all week. She had expected Maria to just turn him down without second thoughts, but now... "Well," Kim started slowly, "Do you miss him?"

"...A little I guess," she admitted, almost shamefully. "But I don't want to work things out with him if he's only going to cheat on me again! You know the saying: fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me."

"That is a good point," Kim speculated. "I supposed this is the real question then: Can you ever trust him again? Trust is really one of the most important things to base any type of relationship on."

"Trust, huh?" Maria echoed thoughtfully, "I don't think so. At least, I can't trust him the way I did before."

"If someone cheated on me, I'd forget about him," Kim said dryly. She had hated seeing her best friend brokenhearted only days ago, and as her best friend, it was Kim's job to make sure no one could hurt her, right? "That's just my advice, though. But maybe you should move on."

"I...I think you're right," Maria said, her spirits lifting again, "I still have this paper with the tallies on it, and with seven different tallies, I bet I could find someone else! Thanks, Kim, you're the best!"

After Maria had hung up a few minutes later, Kim was still pondering the list of names which had quite a few tallies next to her own. If that was true, than her options weren't even limited to Yong Soo and Jaidee. Before Maria and Michelle had shown her that piece of paper, she didn't really ever considered the fact that there were guys out there who secretly crushed on her. Since she was naturally modest and humble, Kim didn't think that she stuck out from all the other girls at Heta High, and assumed that guys didn't think she had anything special to offer them. Now that she had seen the list, it was like a whole new world of possibilities had opened up, and not just for herself, but for her friends as well. A small smile made its way on her lips. Maybe school wouldn't be so boring come Monday.

* * *

When the bell rang Monday morning, signaling the start of first class, Michelle floated into her English classroom and took her seat groggily, yawning as she did so. Monday mornings were always the worse for her; every week she barely made it on time to school after a weekend of sleeping in. Not to mention how hard it was to focus after two days of relaxing and mentally turning off. As her teacher droned on about the importance of using symbols and metaphors in literature, she tuned out and passed the time doodling in her notebook. She had almost finished a sketch of herself riding a dolphin in the ocean when someone behind her tapped her shoulder. While her teacher had his back turned to them as he wrote on the board, Michelle twisted in her chair to face whoever it was that tapped her, who happened to be Ridwan.

Michelle didn't know much about him, just that he was Bruneian and was one of the smarter students at the school. In the back of her mind she knew he was polite and nice, even a little shy at times, so she gave him her full attention because whatever he had to say to her must have been important if he was going to interrupt her during class.

"Hey, you're friends with Maria de la Cruz, right?" he asked, just loud enough for her to hear and no one else. His expression was quizzical, maybe even nervous.

"Um, yeah, why?" She raised an eyebrow after quickly glancing back to see that the teacher was oblivious as usual.

"I was just wondering...she's still single, right? She's not dating Kiku already, is she?" he mustered enough courage to utter out, barely audible.

Michelle blinked. His questions seemed out of nowhere to her, and to be honest, she almost burst out laughing at the turn of events for Maria. It was just too obvious from his disposition that he like her friend, but Michelle composed herself and only grinned at him. "No, they danced for a while at the party on Friday, but they're not going out or anything. Not yet, at least."

"Oh," he answered, disappointing her with his lack of response.

"So...why are you so interested in Maria's relationship status?" she prompted, a knowing smirk on her face.

"N-no reason," Ridwan sputtered sheepishly, cheeks turning a distinct shade of red.

"You don't have to hide it," Michelle reassured him, "I promise I won't tell, cross my heart." She fingered an invisible "X" over her chest and pretended to zip her lips.

"Michelle! Ridwan! No talking during the lesson," the teacher scolded, startling the two and Michelle straightened up, flashing him a innocent smile.

"Sorry," she apologized smoothly with that happy-go-lucky tone of voice. "Won't happen again." When the teacher sighed and faced the board to continue teaching, Michelle gave Ridwan a quick wink before going back to doodling.

* * *

During lunch break, Alfred, Kiku, Arthur, Yao, and Matthew were sitting under the big willow tree by the back of the campus, chatting lightly and flippantly. On Mondays, it became a tradition for some of the guys to meet up and swap their assorted, multi-cultural snacks to create something like a feast, as Alfred described it. Kiku and Yao would always have some Asian delicacy to share, and Arthur would contribute his scones, though rarely anyone touched them to his befuddlement.

As Alfred bit into one of his brother's sugar cookies, he said with a mouthful of food, "Hey, dudes, you know what? I just realized that the only one of us here who actually has a girlfriend is Mattie, and that's just sad."

"Hey!" Matthew frowned softly, before pausing and adding, "Wait...weren't you on a date last night?"

"Yeah, you had a date to the party on Friday, aru," Yao pointed out.

"I did, but we broke up late last night. She was too whiny," Alfred shrugged indifferently.

"You dated her for two days," Arthur exhaled, exasperated. But that was typical Alfred, and he could afford to be that picky with his looks and glowing confidence.

"So what? There are plenty of other chicks around here," he smirked back cockily.

"That girl Maria was really nice. We danced on Friday, and I really enjoyed myself," Kiku commented to no one in particular.

"I saw that!" Alfred exclaimed excitedly, his enthusiasm taking off with the direction of the conversation. "And what about you, Artie? Did you like Michelle?"

"She-she was pretty, I guess," the Brit stammered after almost choking on a scone at Alfred's question. When his friend kept staring at him, he admitted, blushing, "Her smile was contagious...I suppose."

"I knew you'd like her!" he said triumphantly before turning to his Chinese friend. "And you, Yao? Checking out any certain babes?"

"I-no," Yao countered brusquely, taking one of Kiku's rice balls to avoid eye contact with anyone.

"Aw, c'mon, you can tell us," Alfred pressed, nosy as usual. "Is it Mei?"

"She already has a boyfriend," Kiku said, making Alfred stop to think for a moment.

"How about that other girl...what's her name again? I think she's Vietnamese...Oh, right! Kim! Is it Kim?" When Yao hesitated for a moment, a broad smile came over his face. "It totally is!"

"N-no, I mean, she's intelligent and attractive, but I never said..." Yao said quickly before trailing off in a defeated tone after seeing that look on Alfred's face. Once he had an idea, he didn't let it go, so there was no use.

"Yeah, I guess she is kinda cute in her own way," the jock pondered.

"So what about you, Al?" Matthew shot back, tired of watching his brother pry into other people's business.

"Me? You know me, Mattie, I go with the flow!" To prove his point and lack of concern, he added that trademark laugh of his.

* * *

Since it was the last class of the day, Maria's World History class was particularly talkative. While waiting for the teacher to arrive and begin class, Maria was filling in Michelle and Mei about what happened Saturday morning. She had to admit, when she had received those pitiful texts from Antonio, she wanted to consider getting back together with him. Even now she had mixed feelings about her Spanish classmate, whose presence she was all too aware of across the room.

"Kim's right," Michelle told her zealously, "He had his chance, and now he's realizing what he's missing out on. But you can't go back to him or he'll take it as an invitation to do it again."

"I agree," nodded Mei, "You deserve more than a cheater, remember? And there are plenty of other guys in line." She added a wink and an encouraging smile, referencing to the list of names and the tallies.

Maria was about to answer when Mr. Vargas entered the room, filling the atmosphere with his merry mood. "Guess what, Lovi? I get to be your substitute teacher again!" he announced heartily. Lovino put his hand to his forehead, hiding his face from the class. But his grandfather only laughed again and then addressed the entire room, "So, I'm supposed to introduce to you guys the next big project. You guys are going to get into groups of two and each pair is going to draw a slip of paper from a hat. On the slips of paper are major events throughout world history, and your job is to work with your partner to create a poster and give an oral presentation to the class."

Students had already begun teaming up with their friends, and Maria was about to go for Mei, when Mr. Vargas interrupted everyone, "Wait, hold on! I forgot to mention, I'll be choosing who's paired up with who." There was a collective groan throughout the room, but Mr. Vargas didn't seem to notice as he picked up the attendance sheet to read off people's names. He continued, "So everybody listen up as I call out the pairs. First up, Mei and Yong Soo."

Mei sighed, knowing her partner's tendency to get unerringly distracted, and Yong Soo flashed her a toothy grin. The two went up to the front of the room where a hat sat on a stool as he called out the next pair. Maria sat patiently in her seat, waiting to hear her name, and hoping that she would be partners with Michelle, or even Kiku. A few names later, he said, "Maria and Alfred."

Her face fell for an instant, predicting that now she would have to do most of the work on the project herself, since she didn't count on football jockey Alfred to be of much help. But she didn't want to come off rude, so she returned to an apathetic expression and met Alfred in front of the hat. He stuck his hand in and fished around until he settled for a random slip of paper near the bottom and unfolded it. "D-day, World War II" he read aloud. Well that wasn't so bad, Maria thought, at least there was a lot to say and it was easy to research. Alfred followed her back to her seat so they could begin planning their poster. "Are you busy today?" Maria asked good-naturedly, assuming he would just bail on her as soon as she mentioned working.

"Um, no, I don't think so," he replied.

"Can you come over to my place so we can start outlining the poster?" She waited for him to say no.

"Sure, I can bring poster board," he offered, surprising Maria.

"Oh, okay," she answered, trying to maintain a steady voice, "Just for like an hour or something. We don't need to do too much today." After scrawling her number and address on a piece of binder paper, he did the same and exchanged papers. As they did so, Maria found herself re-assessing him. She didn't know much about him, except that he was amazing at football, had a small attention span, and a large appetite. Other than that, maybe she was too quick to judge. Don't judge a book by its cover, she reminded herself.

Meanwhile, Mr. Vargas had called, "Michelle and Francis." Instinctively, Michelle's eyes searched the room and locked eyes with Francis, and after a moment of recognition, she realized, to her dismay, that he was indeed the same French guy she had turned down at the party Friday night. He gave her a curious look, and unsure of what else to do, she broke eye contact and made her way to the hat and plucked the first slip she laid eyes one. "French Revolution." Huh. How about that.

"Well, aren't you lucky to be my partner, right _mon cher_?" Francis chuckled in a semi-dreamy tone after reading over her shoulder.

Michelle resisted the urge to roll her eyes or slap her forehead. She was going to have to meet up with this guy after school? Might as well do the whole project by herself... Francis seemed to pick up on her disappointment and amended, "Don't worry, this topic will be easy, especially since I'm your partner! I promise I won't make you do everything."

"Oh really?" she ventured skeptically, still lingering on the situation on Friday night.

"Yes, really," he waved off. "Where do you want to work on it, my place or yours?"

At this, she paused, contemplating the choices. She honestly didn't want to go to his place, since she didn't know him that well, and at her house she could dictate the rules, but then again, she didn't want him to see her house for personal reasons. "How about the library instead?"

Francis blinked, but did not argue. "Fine by me. When should we start?"

"Does tomorrow afternoon work? I'm busy today."

He nodded, trying to give her his most upbeat smile. He hadn't forgot his resolve to show her what romance was, and now that they were partners, there was no way he was passing the opportunity by. It just had to be some sort of omen. A moment passed by, and to avoid an awkward silence, he asked conversationally, "So how come you're so busy? Sports?" The question itself was a lame one, he admitted to himself, but he didn't want to seem seductive or snooping like at the party.

Michelle tilted her head at him, trying to discern his intentions from asking a simple question, then answered, "No, I have to work. I'm a waitress for the alehouse downtown."

"Oh," was all Francis said in reply. There were so many different things he could've said, but most of them would have only increased her wariness. For once, he was actually nervous about confronting a female. Normally he was smooth and suave, but something about this girl set him off balance. But Francis liked a little challenge here and there, otherwise life would be boring, right?

* * *

Kim sighed as she made her way down the sidewalk away from the school parking lot. She had forgotten that today she would have to walk all the way home since her mom had to borrow her car since hers was in for an oil change. At first, she had planned to catch a ride home from either Maria, Michelle or Mei, assuming at least one of them would be able to drive her home, but Maria had already taken off before she had a chance to ask, Michelle was staying after school to make up a test she had missed, and Mei was already catching a ride from Tao, and Kim did not feel like third-wheeling today. It was always best to avoid awkward situations.

So there she was now, trudging home miserably in her pinchy shoes. They were terribly uncomfortable and definitely not made for walking long distances. If she had known she was going to have to walk home, she would have chosen tennis shoes instead, but this pair matched her outfit perfectly and looked so much cuter on her. And then there were her books that she was required to carry around that got heavier by the minute...

Abruptly, a car pulled up to the sidewalk next to her, obviously trying to get her attention, so she came to a halt and glanced over curiously at the window rolled down. Inside sat Arthur Kirkland, one of her peers. "Need a ride home, Kim?"

Now normally, she'd never get into a car of someone she didn't fully trust. Never hop into a stranger's car, her mother always said, but then again, Arthur wasn't a total stranger. The two actually lived in the same neighborhood, separated by a few blocks, so they were acquainted but not really friends. She knew from brief encounters with him that the Brit was well-mannered at the least, although he was capable of having temper flares. But for the most part, he didn't strike her as suspicious, or even mildly unpleasant, so Kim hesitated, contemplating her options, then finally figured, why not? Better than walking home. "Sure, thanks," she smiled graciously as she took the shotgun seat next to him.

"I have to pick up my little brother Peter from middle school, is that alright? Otherwise he gets a bit infuriating," Arthur told her as he pulled back onto the street.

"No problem, you're already doing me a favor," she replied respectfully. There was a pause, in which Kim racked her brain for something to say, but she couldn't think of anything. What was she supposed to talk about with him?

But Arthur solved that problem for her. "You were at Gilbert's beach party last Friday, weren't you? I remember seeing you there with Jaidee."

Kim raised an eyebrow at him. The way he said that last sentence, it was as if he were trying to imply something more between herself and Jai. "Yeah, we danced for a song or two, but that's all," she clarified.

"Oh," Arthur blinked, mainly because he knew how much Jaidee liked Kim (thanks to Yong Soo) and wondered if he had asked her out yet, but apparently not. "But you still had fun?"

"Of course," Kim amended quickly, in case she had sounded rude, "I had a great time."

"Yeah me too," he said conversationally, then added thoughtfully, "Although, it was a bit crowded for my taste."

"I agree, I'd much rather go curl up in a blanket and watch a good movie," she added, a bit shyly, realizing how much it seemed a bit anti-social.

"Me too," Arthur concurred, which actually surprised Kim. "With snacks and a couple of friends."

"So what kind of movies do you like the best?" Kim asked, trying to keep the conversation going. She didn't expect Arthur to be so open and easy going with her, since he normally came off as jaded and hard to read.

"I'll watch anything, really," he said lightly, "Except for horror movies with Alfred."

"Wait, why?" She looked at him quizzically.

"Because he screams like a little girl, and bloody pops my eardrums," he answered, in such a casual tone that made Kim laugh out loud.

"Really? Alfred, as in the star football player? Screams like a little girl?"

Now Arthur chuckled at his own recollections of Alfred with a pillow over his mouth, staring wide-eyed at the screen. "Yeah, hard to believe, right? Trust me, it's hilarious, but he can get really loud. Don't tell him I told you."

"I won't" she promised, still giggling as they drove up in front of the middle school. An adolescent boy with blue eyes, blonde hair, and thick eyebrows matching Arthur's, probably around the age of thirteen, was heading toward the car as soon as he spotted them. "Is that your brother? He's adorable!"

"He is until you meet him," Arthur grumbled forebodingly. Just then, Peter jumped into the backseat of the car, a little startled to see Kim in the front seat.

"Hello," Kim greeted out of courtesy as Peter looked from Arthur, to Kim, to Arthur, then to Kim. His gaze sat on her for a moment before turning back to his brother with a knowing grin.

"So you FINALLY got yourself a girlfriend!" he exclaimed to Arthur as if it were some big relief.

Kim and Arthur exchanged looks, and when she saw his cheek brighten, she couldn't help but blush as well. "N-no, we're just giving Kim here a ride home for today," Arthur said quickly after clearing his throat. Peter sighed.

"Of course. I should have known. That's the only way you'd ever get a girl in your car."

"_Peter_!" he snapped sharply as they took to the road again. "Maybe _you_ should bloody walk home!"

Kim smiled to herself as they began to argue. Being an only child herself, she blessed with the absence of such bickering, but lacked the companionship of a sibling, so the two Kirklands amused her. The squabbling, however, was interrupted when Arthur's phone, which sat in the glove compartment, beeped thrice loudly, and the screen flashed: Text Message from Antonio. Instinctively, she grimaced at the name, and when Arthur glanced over, he saw her expression.

"He's my partner for a history project," he explained, keeping his eyes on the road. "You don't like him?"

"I don't really know him, personally, but he cheated on my friend Maria last week, so yeah," she told him distastefully. "I don't like people who hurt my friends."

"Wow, that guy had two girls at once, and you can't even get one," Peter commented from the backseat, to which Arthur ignored.

"Oh, I heard about that," he said to Kim, "How did Maria find out?"

"She said that she and Antonio went to her house after the soccer game, since he's on the school team, to celebrate their victory, but when he opened his bag to pull out a fresh T-shirt, a thong fell out," Kim explained as Arthur and Peter listened intently.

"That wanker," Arthur said disapprovingly.

"Was it, like, pink?" Peter asked.

"I think that's what Maria said, but she didn't really specify on the color...how did you know?" Kim inquired, puzzled.

"Oh, uh, Maria's sister, Maya, told me. She's in my grade," he replied casually.

"He claims he didn't cheat," Arthur speculated, wondering which story to believe.

"I don't believe it for a second," she repudiated. Then Peter changed the subject and started talking about how hard his math test was, but Kim subconsciously tuned out, studying Arthur's facial features instead. Luckily he was a focused driver, so he didn't notice. His eyebrows were unnaturally thick, but it was his radiant emerald green eyes that entranced her. Against his fair complexion, they seemed to glow, and she was mesmerized up until the car had reached her drive way. As she got out of the car, she gave him one more "Thank you" and a warm smile, which he was quick to return. When he drove off, she found herself staring after the back of his car, trying to decipher the strange feeling she felt inside her. But after a minute, she still could not make sense of her emotions and finally went inside and closed the door behind her.

* * *

From the Author: I know this is kinda slow, but I promise the story will pick up these next few chaps, since I'm still introducing the pairing options. But seriously, it will get more interesting, I swear! Who knows, maybe some serious shit will go down...

Peter=Sealand, Maya=Malaysia

Wow, you guys gave me all sorts of votes! I wish I could make you all happy...but anyway, this is the very very LAST chance for people to vote for a pairing! After this, the vote will close so please get your votes in ASAP! Thanks!

BTW, please review! I love hearing from you guys, it makes my day :)

Special thanks to: ChocoKoko, itgirl18, Ayumi Kudou, NinjaRoll, MirageMeister, animefan106, Firihon and USUK, and Otori kyouya! Your votes and reviews have been carefully read! Thanks again!

Please vote if you haven't done so yet~ (See chap 1 for details) and Until next chapter!


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Do not own hetalia!

Note: Have fun with this chapter... ;)

* * *

As soon as the door bell rang, Maria got out of her seat and answered the door to find Alfred standing there, on time just like he promised, holding a large piece of poster paper and a bottle of glue. After taking the poster board, she showed him inside the house cordially, and laid the poster on the table next to the computer.

"Alright, let's do this," Alfred said, putting enthusiasm into his voice. For some reason, he felt as if he had to prove to Maria that he could be an awesome partner as well, since he was sure she assumed he was a freeloader.

"I think we should divide the poster into four different sections," Maria suggested helpfully, "Causes of World War II, major battles, how it ended, and lasting effects."

"Sounds good," Alfred nodded, knowing he probably couldn't have come up with better categories himself. Maria brought out her laptop and began to research the details of the war while Alfred took notes from websites he looked up on his iPhone. After forty-five of this, Alfred, was having a hard time keeping his attention span together, and Maria noticed his fidgeting. Honestly, she was just glad he had been quiet and focused for more than ten minutes in a row.

"How about we take a break," she offered, smiling to herself. She could tell Alfred was trying extremely hard to keep his act together, and knew that he could hold out for only so long before his boredom took over.

"Yes, thank you!" Alfred burst out in relief, unable to help himself. He relaxed his shoulders and sat back on the cushiony sofa.

"Thirsty?" Maria asked, "Because I am. I'm going to get a glass of juice, you want anything? We have soda cans."

"Cool, soda please," he grinned, maintaining polite attitude and trying to mimic Kiku's personality. Maria nodded and disappeared into the pantry. Meanwhile, Alfred's phone buzzed in his pocket, and when he pulled it out, there was a text message from his brother.

"Al! Katyusha's totally crying in the bathroom right now and I don't know what to do!" it read.

"What? You don't treat your girlfriend right? Did you make her cry?" Alfred texted back. A second later, his phone vibrated again.

"No, it wasn't my fault. Ivan got called to the principal's office today and he told him that if he gets into another fight at school he'll be expelled." Matthew's message said.

"Oh. Why are you telling me this, again?" After a brief moment, Matthew's next text came in.

"Because I wanted your advice...but actually I think I'll ask Kiku or Arthur, so never mind. Even Francis might have better advice than you." When Alfred read the text he frowned and was about to send his brother an offended message back, but then Maria came back, holding the drinks in her hands. And Alfred, taking the opportunity of being a good guest, hopped off the couch enthusiastically.

"Here, let me help you!" he grinned, coming up to her.

"Okay-" Maria started to say, but then, to her utter embarrassment, she managed to trip over her own two feet. Letting out a high-pitched squeal as she fell, she crashed into Alfred, who attempted to catch her, but his legs buckled under the sudden impact of her weight. The next thing she knew, she was on top of him, staring into his blue eyes in surprise.

At first, he just blinked, but then a small smirk appeared on his lips. "Oh, hey there," he chuckled.

Blushing furiously, Maria quickly sat up and got off of him. When he sat up as well, she realized that his bomber jacket and T-shirt was drenched with the juice she had been carrying, and that the glass had shattered when it hit the floor. "Oh!" she exclaimed, mortified, "I am so sorry about that! Your shirt..."

"Don't worry about it," Alfred brushed off as he got to his feet.

"Here, give it to me and I'll put in the washing machine right now, to make sure the juice doesn't stain it," she told him, holding out her hand.

"Oh, alright, thanks!" he nodded good-naturedly. He removed his bomber jacket and handed it over. Maria was about to head upstairs to her laundry room, but then she realized that Alfred wasn't done yet. And she couldn't help but blush even harder when the jock peeled off his shirt and placed it in her arms as well. For a moment, Maria found that she couldn't help but stare at his...gorgeous six-pack...and his hot abs and muscular arms...

Alfred caught her staring, and winked coquettishly, "See something you like?"

She snapped out of her trance and giggled nervously before rushing up the stairs to avoid further mortification. After starting the spin cycle of the washing machine with his clothes inside, she came back down stairs taking a deep breath. He was still there, still shirtless, picking up his soda can from the floor. "Wait, don't open that-" Maria warned, but it was too late. He popped open the can, and the carbonated, fizzy soda shot up in his face like a geyser, soaking his hair. When the fizz died down, Alfred took off his glasses and rubbed his forehead, trying to dry his face.

And again, Maria couldn't help herself; she cracked up, bursting into laughter at the sight of him. Alfred laughed too, knowing how stupid he must have looked. Suddenly, out of nowhere, the door bell rang, and Maria was still giggling as she went to go answer the door.

But when she opened it, her smile faded in an instant. "Antonio?"

"Hey, Maria," he smiled sheepishly. The Spaniard didn't look so good; he was a bit pale and fidgety, probably from nervousness.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded bitterly, remembering that thong.

"I-I just wanted to talk things out! Please, just hear me out. I didn't cheat, I swear!" he tried.

"And you expect me to believe that?" Maria spat, angry. "I told you, it's over."

"But if we could still fix-" Antonio began helplessly, before Alfred popped up next to Maria.

"Who's here- Oh, hey Antonio," he greeted nicely.

Antonio's mouth fell open. He looked from Alfred, who had yet to put a shirt on, to Maria back to Alfred. And Maria, confused at his shock for a second, realized what he was thinking. "Oh, Antonio, it's not what it looks like," she said quickly.

"No, no," Antonio sputtered out, voice cracking, "I-I get it. You've moved on already, so it really is over." He turned to Alfred. "Congratulations," he said hoarsely, making Alfred raise his eyebrows since he couldn't read the atmosphere. Then Antonio glanced back at Maria, who didn't know what to say or how to explain what was actually going on. "Sorry for wasting your time," he added before rapidly turning on his heels and heading towards his car.

After he drove off, Alfred asked, "What was that all about?"

"I think he thought we were having a date..." Maria whispered.

"Why would he think that?"

Maria just looked at him. "You're shirtless and your hair is wet, like you were just sweating..."

Finally it clicked in his head. "Oh, right."

"Yeah," Maria could only nod. Honestly, she was still in the process of registering what just happened. Stupid coincidences...Antonio just had to drop by today of all days. "But then again," she pondered aloud, "Maybe it's a good thing he got the wrong idea. Now he won't bother trying to get back together with me and now he'll stop trying to feed me those dumb lies."

"You still think he cheated on you? That didn't look like the face of a liar," Alfred pointed out thoughtfully.

"He's already proven he's a good liar. There's no way I'm falling for another one of his acts so soon," Maria crossed her arms over her chest stubbornly. Alfred wanted to say more in Antonio's defense, but he could see that Maria wouldn't hear of it. "Anyway," she continued, "I'll go get you a shirt...maybe you'll fit into one of my dad's old T-shirts."

"Okay, cool, because I'm starting to get a little chilly," he chortled lightly.

Maria snuck in another glance at his too-good-to-be-true muscles. Seriously...how could he not be airbrushed or something? "I swear, with all of the food you eat, it's impossible for you to look so good," Maria admitted.

"They can call me a typical, fat American all they want," Alfred laughed, "But you and I know how true that is!"

"You must have a really good work out," Maria tilted her head to the side as she shut the door.

"Football," Alfred nodded. "Don't ever ask Francis what his work out is," he added, "You don't want to know."

Maria giggled as she made her way up the stairs again to retrieve him a T-shirt, "I'm sure I can guess ."

* * *

Kim was just finishing up her chemistry homework when her phone beeped next to her on the table. Putting down her pencil, she checked it to find a text message from Mei. "Hey Kim! Tao says he knows three people who have a thing for you." She ended her message with a tongue face.

Her curiosity peaked, Kim typed back, "Rly? Who?"

She didn't have to wait long for a reply. Her Taiwanese friend reported, "Tao won't tell me. :( He says he's sworn to secrecy, sorry."

"Can I at least have a hint or something?" Kim answered hopefully.

A few moments later, her phone beeped again, reading, "He says they're some of his closer friends."

Kim thought about this for a moment. Who did Tao hang out with most of the time? Besides Mei that is. Tao was really good friends with Yao, Jaidee, Yong Soo...could those be the three? Jaidee and Yong Soo did seem come up to her on Friday during the party. But she had no idea about Yao, though she did have casual conversations with her Chinese classmate every so often. To be honest, she wouldn't mind getting to know Yao better. He seemed to have a really dynamic personality, an intelligent mind, and a good taste in food. Of course, at this point, she was only guessing it was Yao that Tao was talking about.

Then again, wasn't there a time when Tao and Arthur were good friends too? She vaguely remembered the two walking around town together when they were in middle school, but she wasn't sure if they were still close, or rather, if Tao was close enough to Arthur to know who he was crushing on. She thought about how Arthur have given her a ride home earlier, and while it could have been just a sweet gesture, Kim had to admit to herself that she did enjoy it...almost too much.

But Kim shook her head, internally scolding herself. Wasn't it vain to assume someone liked you that way? Sighing, she changed the subject of her and Mei's conversation to move away from her boy troubles. In all honesty, Kim was a little jealous of Mei at this point; she and Tao were happily together, while Kim, Michelle, and Maria were having to work a little harder to find themselves the right guys.

* * *

Michelle had been watching videos on YouTube when her phone rang from inside her backpack. Stretching as she hopped off the chair, and quickly unzipped her front pocket to her backpack and pulled out her phone. "Incoming Call from Francis," it read. Michelle frowned. What was he calling her for already? Didn't he just get her number today in class, and didn't she already tell him that she was busy tonight?

Deciding it was rude to ignore the call when it could actually be important, she pressed the green button and put it to her ear. "Hello?"

"Hey, Michelle! I was just calling to let you know that I'm going to your house to return your notebook. You left it in history class earlier," he explained merrily.

Michelle almost dropped her phone out of alarm. "W-what? No, you don't have to do that!"

"Oh, it's no problem," Francis continued in that carefree voice of his. "I'm already on my way."

"W-what? How did you get my address?" Michelle stuttered.

"Your friend Mei gave it to me! She said you probably wouldn't mind," he told her.

"..." Michelle didn't respond, silently promising herself that she would kill Mei for this later.

"Well, I'm driving now, so I should probably go. See you in a minute, _mon cher_."

Damn. This was not good. Michelle had carefully avoided inviting anybody to her house for the past month, and she had been successful until now. What would Francis think when he saw her lawn? Then Michelle had an idea. Maybe she could stand in front of her neighbor's house and pretend that that was hers instead. Congratulating herself for being such a genius, she ran out the front door, only to find Francis's shiny blue two-door Cadillac pulling up to the sidewalk in front of her house. So he really had been only a minute away.

As her French classmate got out of his car, Michelle's hopeful expression was wiped away completely. However, to at least seem appreciative of his attempt to do something nice for her, she plastered a fake smile on her face as he handed her the notebook. Giving her a sideways glance, he asked, "Are you okay, _mon cher_?"

"Of-of course," Michelle answered, much too quickly.

"Your smile isn't real," Francis chuckled, "Your cheeks look really strained."

Michelle sighed, giving up. "Was I that obvious?"

"I'm just really good at reading body language," Francis winked playfully.

"I...just didn't want you to see my house," she finally admitted, shoulders slumping.

Francis took an instinctive look behind her. The house's faded paint job was beginning to chip, the windows were dusty, and the lawn was full of dead, yellow grass. "Ugly, isn't it?" Michelle frowned sadly, "You're the only one who's seen it in a while, besides my family and neighbors of course."

"Oh, um..." Francis didn't know what to say, without evidently lying to cheer her up.

"It's okay, I know how bad it looks. The bank...has foreclosed our house...I've been picking up extra shifts at work to try to make up for the debts, but obviously it wasn't enough."

"What happened?" Francis ventured tentatively.

"My parents got a divorce last year. My dad walked out on us, and going from a two paycheck family to a one paycheck family didn't really work out so well," Michelle explained weakly.

"I'm sorry," Francis said awkwardly, "If you ever need any cash, you can always ask me."

Now Michelle looked at him dubiously. "You would just lend me cash? No, I'm not going to ask for your money, no matter who you are. I may be a lot of things, but I'm not a beggar."

"Begging isn't the same as asking for help, _mon cher_," he said sincerely. "But it's your choice. Do your friends ever know?"

"...Not exactly," Michelle said, meaning they didn't know at all. "Anyway, I have to get ready for work soon, so I guess I'll see you tomorrow, then."

"Oh, alright," Francis nodded, a bit disappointed at her abrupt departure. "Until tomorrow, _mon cher_."

Michelle watched him drive away in that cool blue car, then finally turned away and went back inside, cursing her stupid, expensive house.

* * *

Since Kim had finished all her homework earlier than usual, she decided to go online and surf the Internet for a little bit. First, she logged on to Facebook to see if anyone had anything interesting to post. However, as soon as she signed on, there was a little pop-up message in the lower right hand corner, indicating an instant message from Alice, her chemistry partner. "So is it true? About Maria?" it read, with an open-mouthed smiley face.

Was what true? Kim, confused, typed back, "What about Maria?"

Two seconds later, Alice replied, "The rumor! I heard she had sex with Alfred earlier today, like after school!"

Kim's eyes widened as she read over the message twice in disbelief. "WHAT?" she typed in all caps.

"Yeah! Didn't you know? Isn't Maria your best friend?" Alice sent back.

"Yeah, she's my friend, and no, I didn't hear that at all," was Kim's next reply. "But I really don't think that's true! She wouldn't do that, trust me."

A moment later, Alice's next message read, "Well, you never know, Alfred can be irresistible sometimes."

That was it. Kim whipped out her phone and immediately sent an urgent text to her Filipina friend. After Kim sent the message to Maria, she went back to her computer and replied to Alice, "Where did you hear that from?"

"Lovino Vargas told me. But he heard it from Antonio. Of course, the story is hard to believe, since Antonio's probably just trying to get back at his ex girlfriend, but then again, why would he say that? Doesn't that just make him look bad?"

"It does...I don't know," Kim answered, puzzled, glancing at her phone, waiting for Maria's reply.

"But whatever's the case," Alice typed back, "Word's going around that Maria de la Cruz is a slut."

* * *

From the Author: I apologize for any errors I may have missed. Anyways, what did you guys think? Reactions? Opinions? I'd love to hear them! Any predictions even?

A special thanks to: Firihon and USUK FTW, ChocoKoko, animefan106, itgirl18, Guest, Louise0, NinjaRoll, and luvpeace4evez! Your reviews are very much appreciated!

Thanks again for reading! Please review! Until next chapter!


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Hetalia. Something that is not mine.

Note: Okay, so I had to up the rating because of the increased use in cuss words and mentions of well, sex, and if that does not float your boat, then I sincerely apologize for the turn that this story has taken. Even I didn't know it was going to be like this until I typed it up...But if you can handle all that, then by all means, enjoy the story!

* * *

Before Maria got out of her car, she took a shaky breath, trying to flush her mind out of the negative anxieties. She had had trouble sleeping last night, due to those relentless thoughts circling around in her head, after Kim had sent her a crazy text. As soon as she had read it, she immediately called her Vietnamese friend, who explained the rumor. Her initial reaction was anger, anger at herself for being so careless when Antonio had come over, anger at Antonio for making sketchy assumptions, and anger at those gossiping peers that had nothing better to do but spread lies about her life. For a quick moment, she had considered being angry with Alfred, but then decided that it really wasn't his fault, and he, like herself, was just a victim of circumstance.

So as she shut the car door and locked it, she repeatedly told herself in her head that there was nothing to worry about. Maria could be very convincing, and managed to persuade herself that everything would be normal, just like it always was. Today would be an ordinary day. Her life didn't concern anyone else's so why should they care about silly rumors? No, they had no reason to care, and therefore no reason to bother her. And even if they came up to ask her if the rumor was true, she could just quickly denied it and tell the truth. And then everything would be okay. Right?

That was the fragmented logic she used to relax herself and finally make it to the school's entrance. But as she walked through the halls, making her way to her first classroom, she realized how wrong she was. Groups of students would stare her way and whisper to each other, evidently spreading even MORE gossip about Maria, but then look away whenever she narrowed her eyes at them, frustrated. It was infuriating, to tell the truth, knowing that they were talking about her, but having no way to tell them off without looking insane and paranoid.

And so, knowing the only way to beat the liars was to make sure they didn't get to her, Maria pretended not to notice their prying gazes and walked with her chin up and perfect composure. To make it easier to ignore her peers, she focused only on what was directly in front of her, her path. But as she continued down the hall, another guy, who was walking towards her in the opposite direction, threw her a wink and a malicious grin. He whistled as he passed by her, then snickered, "I'd tap that!"

A mixture of rage, mortification, and shock made Maria's cheeks grow hot, but when she whirled around to gape at him, his back was to her and he continued walking. After a moment, she shook her head and proceeded to her classroom, infuriated at the guy she didn't even know. However, she refused to let anyone get under her skin, so she retained a poker face all the way to her classroom.

But just as she was about to enter the room, a group of girls going past the room, were whispering just loud enough that Maria could hear that they were, but could not make out the words. But then she knew that they were talking about her when one of them distinctly coughed, "whore!"

* * *

As Michelle sat herself down in her first period class, English, she noticed Ridwan sulking in the desk behind her, his head resting on his arms on the desk. "Why so down, Rid?" she asked curiously, though she already had a good idea.

Slowly, he lifted his head, revealing sad, brown eyes and a crestfallen frown. "You know why, Michelle. I thought Maria was still single so maybe I had a chance. When I saw her with Kiku, I thought that was bad enough, but now there's no way I can compete with Alfred! He's a football player for Pete's sake! And honestly, I didn't think Maria was the kind of girl who would...you know..."

"She did not do anything with him," Michelle said frankly, "She and Alfred have never been more than friendly acquaintances, and they have never had sex."

"How do you know?"

"Because she told me, and I believe her." Michelle said it with such confidence, it was hard not to believe her, but then the boy who sat to the left of Ridwan leaned over and asked,

"Hey, are you two, like, talking about Maria?"

"Yeah..."Michelle answered tentatively, narrowing her eyes at him. She didn't know him too well, but she had definitely heard weird stories about him, for example, he liked to cross-dress. If there was one thing about Feliks, who had transferred to school here from Poland his freshman year, that Michelle knew for sure, it was that he knew all the gossip that circulated this campus.

"Well, I totally think the rumors are true," Feliks nodded with ignorant certainty.

"Too bad, because they're not. Maria told me so herself," Michelle persisted.

"There's such thing as lying," Feliks repudiated. At this point, Ridwan was just watching the conversation bounce back and forth, not daring to get sucked in or take sides.

"I'm her best friend. She wouldn't lie to me."

"She would if she didn't want you to like, know."

"Why wouldn't she want me to know?" Michelle raised her eyebrow.

"Maybe Alfred pressured her into it. It can like, totally happen. Alfred may not be smart, but he can be tempting," Feliks pointed out matter-of-factly. "Trust me, this kind of thing happens all the time."

"Okay, first of all, that's a really creepy way for a guy to describe Alfred. Second, I know Alfred, and he would never do that. Third, Maria would never fall for that. She'd sooner kick his ass than let him seduce her," Michelle argued ardently. And she knew she was right, no matter what Feliks had to say.

The Pole just shrugged. "Whatever you say."

Then Michelle turned to Ridwan. "So don't believe everything you hear! And do waste your time feeling sorry for yourself. This could be your chance! Maria could use a friend now more than ever. Maybe even someone more than just a friend..."

The Bruneian seemed to perk up at her words. A slight grin played on the corners of his lips. "Alright then, maybe I'll try talking to her later."

Michelle cheered softly. "That's the spirit!"

* * *

Maria's first class, Art, was torture. It was irritating to have to pretend that she didn't notice any of her classmate's disapproving stares. What's worse, some of the guys' stares were...well, directed more at her body after hearing the rumor that she was a slut. She could only thank God that she sat with decent people at her table. For the first ten minutes, however, neither of them said a word to her, and an awkward silence ensued.

Finally, Elizaveta spoke up, "So...you and Alfred, huh?" Of course the Hungarian girl loved to know all the latest news, but she also had to know it was true.

Maria hesitated before answering, throwing a brief glance in Matthew's direction. He acted like he didn't care, just working on his painting, but Maria could tell he was feeling very uncomfortable. She could almost see the awkwardness escalating around the table. She also wondered if Matthew believed the rumors, and here they were, indirectly discussing his brother's sex life!

"No," Maria shook her head bluntly. "That was all misunderstanding. Alfred and I are strictly friends. Just friends."

At this, Matthew quickly looked up, but when he met Maria's eyes, he looked back down again. She stared at him a moment, as if trying to read his thoughts. Unable to read him, however, she sighed and asked him instead, "Did Alfred tell you anything? He's not spreading this rumor too, is he?" Although she didn't think Alfred the type of person to do it, she was afraid that he would actually like the rumor and use it to boost his own reputation as a player or something...

Matthew paused, then put down his paintbrush, and finally joined the conversation. "Actually, I don't think he knew about the rumors until this morning when I asked him about it. And I only found out through Katyusha."

"So what did he think about it?" Maria ventured.

"At first he laughed, like he didn't take it seriously, but that's to be expected. Then he told me what really happened, with the juice and the soda," he answered, but there was an edge to his voice, like he didn't really know what story to believe.

"Juice and soda?" Elizaveta repeated in confusion, "Is that some sort of sexual reference I don't know about?"

Maria wanted to facepalm, to be completely honest. "No, it's not. Because we did not have sex. At all," she scoffed.

Again, Matthew was silent for a moment, but then answered slowly, "You know, even thought Alfred can be extremely cocky and walks around like he's a stud or something, I don't think he'd want to have sex with you."

"Excuse me?" Maria blinked, a bit offended by that comment. It's not like she wasn't cute or pretty or anything...was he implying that Alfred didn't think she was attractive, that she was _ugly_?

"N-no that's not what I meant! I'm saying that I don't think he'd try to do it with you so soon. I mean, he at least tries to be a little decent before...you know, like take you out to dinner or something," he amended quickly, a bit flustered.

"Yeah, that makes sense," Elizaveta agreed, "Alfred's not a total jerk. I don't think he'd just use you like that."

"So you all believe me then?" Maria tilted her head to the side, praying in her head their answer was yes.

To her relief, the two nodded sincerely, making her exhale. But that's when she noticed something was off. Their fourth tablemate, Feliciano had be unusually quiet the whole conversation. When Maria looked over, she saw he was concentrated on his painting, hunched over it as if trying to make himself busy. He was so focused that it was evident right off the bat that he was faking it. Especially since they all knew that Feliciano would never put so much effort into an art project that he was naturally good at, and he was too carefree to be strained by a simple painting.

At first, she wondered why he was acting so strange, but then she realized that he had probably heard the rumor firsthand from Lovino and Antonio. Obviously, he felt obligated to believe his brother and one of his good friends, but was torn between them and Maria's story of what happened. "...Feli?" She asked, frowning. "You believe me, right?"

The Italian was quiet for a moment, and just continued his painting. Maria watched him work, disheartened at his choice to ignore her. Did that mean he didn't believe her then? That he trusted Antonio and Lovino more than her and Alfred? But to be honest, she couldn't blame him for it. Family over friends, right? That was reasonable, but still...

But, to her surprise, Feliciano replied suddenly, "Ve, I guess I believe you, Maria. When fratello told me what Antonio said, I thought it sounded...you know, a bit funny."

Maria smiled. "Good, I didn't want you think I was that kind of girl."

"You know, even if us three know the truth, everyone else still thinks you and Alfred were up to some scandalous things yesterday..." Elizaveta trailed off.

"I know," she sighed regretfully, "They can believe what they want. I don't care. As long as my friends know the truth." She attempted a weak grin and a thumbs up, but the others just frowned at her, seeing through her spurious expression.

"Ve! If you ever want to talk about it, we can always talk over pasta," Feliciano offered cheerfully, reverting back to his normal, optimistic self. Seeing his blissful charisma had a positive effect on Maria, making it easier to forge her nonchalant demeanor.

"Thanks, Feli. I just might have to take you up on that."

* * *

Passing periods between classes were relatively long at their high school, leaving the students ten minutes to get from one class to another. It only took Alfred about three minutes to get to his second class, and since he had seven minutes to spare, he went to the willow tree where his friends normally hung out. Kiku and Yao were already there, along with Francis, Arthur and Yong Soo, all conversing lightly, the Korean occasionally laughing much too loud. But when Alfred reached them, all their talking died down abruptly, and they all shifted about uncomfortably.

"Hey guys!" Alfred greeted with a broad, toothy grin, oblivious to their reactions at first. When they failed to respond for a few moments, his happy-go-lucky expression faded. "What's wrong?"

There was an awkward pause. "So..." Yong Song started finally, "I heard you got it _on_ last night."

"That's bull, okay, I did not do anything with anybody yesterday," Alfred denied evenly, keeping a level head with his friends.

"Well that's definitely not what I heard," Francis chuckled, "You don't have to be ashamed of being in an intimate relationship with Maria! As long as you're romantic...unless you two are just friends with benefits."

Alfred's cheeks were beginning to get hot, and he was about to refute those comments before Yao suddenly snapped at him instead. "Francis, don't encourage him! He should be ashamed! He took advantage of Maria even when he knew that Kiku liked her!"

"It's okay, Yao," Kiku mumbled half-heartedly. The whole time he had been staring at the ground, disheartened, but he couldn't bring himself to be angry with Alfred.

"No, it's not, Kiku," Yao insisted ardently. If Kiku wasn't going to say anything, then Yao decided he would do it for him.

"I told you, nothing happened between us yesterday, it's all just a misunderstanding," Alfred tried again, "And why do you automatically assume that I would be the one to take advantage?"

"Because we all know that Maria wouldn't be the one pressuring it on you," Arthur scoffed.

Yong Soo snickered at that idea, "That would be just hilarious, da ze! Ha, Maria acting like a dominatrix or something!"

"Yong Soo! Not helping!" Yao scolded. He frowned at Kiku, who was growing increasingly uncomfortable, but trying to hide it. "C'mon Kiku, let's go to class." Pulling him away by the arm, Yao walked away indignantly.

"Wait for me, da ze!" The Korean raced after them, leaving Alfred, Arthur and Francis under the tree.

"Great, now Kiku probably hates me," Alfred sighed.

"You should of thought of that before _lui faire l'amour_," Francis chuckled.

"I have no idea what that means, but it probably has something to do with sex, doesn't it? Well, I didn't do it with her!" Alfred denied once again in exasperation. "You believe me, right Artie?"

"Do not call me that! And...maybe," Arthur trailed off, that last word barely audible. Alfred was about to protest some more before being cut off by the warning bell, indicating only two more minutes before class began. Arthur and Francis ditched Alfred rather quickly, and so he had no choice but to trudge to his next class by himself.

* * *

When lunch period came, Kim was the first to arrive at the table where they normally sat. Maria came shortly after, evidently fuming over something. "You okay?" Kim ventured carefully.

"I'm sick of all of this! I can't walk through the halls without guys staring at my chest! All because of a stupid rumor," she grumbled, plopping down next to her Vietnamese friend.

"If it makes you feel any better, I denied the rumor every time someone asked me about it," she offered.

"Thanks, but everyone's still going to think I'm a slut...Damn Antonio, why'd he have to go and tell everyone! If he had just let me explain what happened before he left yesterday then none of this would have happened."

"Actually..."Kim started, making Maria raise her eyebrow, "Most people I talked to either directly or indirectly heard it from Lovino, not Antonio...I don't think Antonio's the one who spread it."

"You think Lovino is the one responsible for my destroyed reputation?"

Kim was about to answer, but then Mei and Tao sat down, followed by Michelle. "Ugh, you know that Polish guy Feliks? Well, I was trying to convince Ridwan that the rumor wasn't true, but Feliks butts in and confuses him. I hate eavesdroppers."

"Ridwan...believes in the rumors?" Maria echoed, downcast. Ridwan was a close friend of hers, so he should have known that she'd never do something like that! If he was convinced by the rumors, than chances were, everyone did too.

"Well, he did at first, and he was kind down about it, and then that Polish guy had to make it worse-" Michelle explained, but what cut off by Maria when she suddenly stood up.

"That's it! I'm not taking this anymore." With that, she grabbed her backpack and stalked off.

"Wait! Maria! Where are you going?" Kim called, biting her lip. But Maria either didn't hear or just ignored her and kept walking.

* * *

Meanwhile, Alfred was being plagued by a terrible guilt trip. Kiku was definitely avoiding him, not answering any of his texts, and for Kiku that was pretty bad since he always considered the silent treatment a bit rude. Yao probably took his phone away, but Alfred wasn't sure.

"Just give Kiku some space for now," Matthew suggested as they walked through the school with Arthur, "Maybe tomorrow he'll be more willing to listen...or I should say Yao will be more willing to listen."

"So what exactly happened yesterday, if you say that you two never even hit any of the bases?" Arthur inquired.

"We were just researching for our project, and she went to get some juice and soda, and when she came back I got up to help her, and I guess she slipped and-"

"Alfred!"

The three turned around at the sound of his name to see Maria coming towards them. "You haven't been spreading any of those rumors about us, have you?" she demanded, crossing her arms over her chest.

"No! Of course not," Alfred blinked.

"Good...Has your day been as terrible as mine?" she asked, anger and suspicion leaving her.

"Why? People giving you a hard time?" Arthur asked sympathetically.

"That's an understatement," Maria growled. Suddenly she was irate again, remembering all the crap she had to put up with just walking through the halls and entering class. "So if you aren't spreading anything then it really has to be Antonio." She considered what Kim had said about it being Lovino instead, but why would he spread the rumors? They didn't have anything against each other really, so he had no reason to ruin her social life. Antonio, however, had motivation to get revenge.

"Should we go talk to Antonio about it then?" Alfred asked thoughtfully.

"That's a great idea! Though 'talk' isn't a strong enough word for what I'm going to say to him," Maria said darkly before storming off in the direction of Antonio's usual hang out spot. Alfred just stared after her in surprise for a moment, while Matthew and Arthur exchanged concerned glances. Then all three started after her.

It only took Maria thirty seconds flat to reach the table where Antonio sat with his friends Gilbert, Francis, along with Lovino, Feliciano and Ludwig. They sat in a more secluded part of the campus, so there weren't many onlookers, which was just fine with her. As soon as she saw that messy brown hair of his, she let all her frustration out, shouting, "Antonio!"

All six of the guys sitting there looked up. "M-Maria?" the Spaniard titled his head in confusion. Initially, he perked up at the sound of her voice, but her furious expression instantly struck him with fear.

"Yeah, it's me, you asshole!" she growled dangerously. "You gossipy, lying, cheating jerk!"

"W-what?" he stammered, standing up to back away from her, but tripping over the bench of the table and landing on his bottom.

"How dare you spread those stupid rumors about me! What's wrong with you? First you go and break my heart and my trust, and then you tell everyone that I'm some lowlife whore?!" Maria seethed, outraged. She had had absolutely enough torture from this devious Spaniard, she was going to make him regret screwing with her life.

"N-no! I never did any of that, I swear!" Antonio refuted with a shaky voice.

"Stop lying!" She took another step forward, but then Gilbert and Francis sprang out of their seats to hold her back.

"Whoa there, _mon cher_," Francis said nervously.

"Yeah, if he says he didn't do it, then he didn't," Gilbert argued.

"I don't trust anything he has to say," Maria huffed indignantly. Just then, Arthur, Alfred, and Matthew caught up, each panting and dropping their backpacks. "My day's been awful because of those rumors," she continued.

"Then maybe you shouldn't have been so quick to get naked with four eyes over here," Gilbert nodded towards Alfred.

"We did not!" Maria and Alfred said simultaneously.

"And you're one to talk," Maria added sarcastically, "I highly doubt you're still a virgin."

"Kesesese, I can't help it if I'm so awesomely sexy!"

"Please just be quiet, bruder," Ludwig sighed.

"Anyway," Maria said, glowering back at Antonio, "I guess ripping my heart out wasn't enough for you, huh?"

"No, I didn't spread anything and I never cheated on you, Maria," he tried again, this time a little teary-eyed. While they were still dating, Maria would have hated to see him cry or look so miserable, but now she couldn't even tell whether his tears were real or not. "I didn't tell any rumors!"

"Why should I believe you?" she said as she narrowed her eyes at him. When Antonio couldn't give her an immediate answer, she shook her head in irritation and then turned on her heels. "Forget it," she mumbled before briskly pacing away.

For a moment, no one else said anything, and then Gilbert helped Antonio back on his feet. He was still blinking past tears, and Alfred couldn't help but feel sorry for him. "Hey, dude, look, yesterday, it was all a big misunderstanding," Alfred told him, "We accidently spilt juice all over the place and on my shirt and so she offered to wash it for me and get me a another one. But you showed up at the house before she could get me another shirt."

"O-oh. But I swear I didn't say anything to anyone!" Antonio shook his head, "I assumed you two were...you know, but, I didn't tell anyone about it...except for Lovino."

All eyes turned on the Italian, who was about to bite into a tomato. He stopped, realizing he held everyone's attention. "What? How the hell was I supposed to know you spilt your juice all over yourself?"

* * *

The last class of the day was almost over, and Maria could hardly wait any longer. The whole class had been another torment, courtesy of all the strange looks her way and evident whispering about her among her peers. To make matters worse, her classmates that had been there when she was yelling at Antonio were all trying to get her attention somehow. Notes kept landing on her desk, but she threw each and every one of them into the trash. She was _not_ in the mood to hear their lies or excuses right now. When the bell rang, Maria knew that they would all try to reason with her one way or another, and honestly, she was just tired of all of it. Now she was actually glad that she had to take a make-up test immediately after school. It would give her an excuse to get out of here quick. So when class finally ended, she was the first to leave the room, and then she speed-walked to her math class to take her test.

The actual test really wasn't that hard (she was absent that period due to a dentist appointment), since it was just review, but her head was just swimming with thoughts that had nothing to do with algebra or trigonometry. It should have only taken her about half an hour, but unfortunately, it took her double that. By the time she exited the room, she had an irritable headache. The only thing wanted to do now was go home and pass out on the couch. She glanced down at her phone as she walked through the empty halls. Four missed calls. One from Alfred, one from Antonio, another two from Kim and Michelle. She sighed and shoved it back in her pocket. She didn't feel like talking to people just now.

But as she reached the last hall before the parking lot, she was surprised to see some student occupying the hall. _Oh right, detention must've just gotten out, _she thought to herself. Ugh. Those kids were always so obnoxious and annoying. Maria had planned to walk by the group of boys quickly, so she wouldn't have to put up with their comments about her body, but then she realized what they were doing.

Four of them were taunting someone who was drinking from the water fountain installed into the hall's wall. Three of the jerks were mildly beefy, with dumb expressions on their faces as they laughed along with their ringleader, the fourth asshole, who was much burlier than the others. "You stupid freak! Why don't you go back to Russia! No one wants you here, that's why you have no friends!" the ringleader sniggered.

That's when Maria realized who was at the water fountain. Why the hell were they teasing Ivan Braginski? Did they have a death wish or something?

"Freaking Red," one of his cronies laughed stupidly.

"Fucking weirdo," another snickered, and the other three guffawed. Then Ivan straightened up, and turned to face them, a slight but foreboding smile on his lips.

"I take it you want another beating, da?" he tilted his head. He almost seemed to be radiating an eerie purple aura that sent chills down Maria's back. But the four bullies didn't back down.

"You can't hurt us!" the ringleader grinned mischievously, "One more fight and you're expelled from the school!"

Now this made Ivan stop, and his smile vanished. It was true, one more strike and he was out. Normally, he wouldn't have cared about being kicked out, but Katyusha would be so _disappointed_ with him. If he got expelled, they would all have to move and find another school, and Katyusha wouldn't get to see Matthew anymore, and Ivan knew that it wasn't fair for her. He wanted his older sister to be happy, at the least, and he didn't want to let her down again. The last time he got into a fight, she cried when she found out, and he didn't want that to happen again.

"His whole family's full of crazies!" the ringleader continued, cackling. "Your little sister's a crazy bitch and your older with the huge boobs, I can't believe she's dating a loser like Matthew." All four of them burst into laughter, as Ivan clenched his fists and gritted his teeth, but could do nothing.

"Hey! Assholes!" Maria came to stand by Ivan's side. None of them had even noticed her presence, and even Ivan was startled to see her come to his aid. But now Maria was so fired up, it felt almost...exhilarating. All her pent up anger had been boiling all day, and it was time she let it out, all of it, and these jerks were just the right people to take it out on. "You're all nothing but cowards, using expulsion as your shield instead of actually waging a fair fight."

The ringleader scowled. "Well if it isn't the skank."

"Go ahead and insult me, but don't disrespect Ivan's family, they have nothing to do with any of you," she said evenly.

"Alright, then," the instigator countered slyly, "I won't insult his family. There's no need to, it's already obvious. Hey, aren't you Antonio's ex? He's the one who cheated on you, right? You must not have been good enough for him. And it's Antonio Carriedo too, I mean, if you can't even keep _him_, then that says a lot."

"Excuse me?!" she exclaimed, enraged.

"So we can get to the beatings now, da?" Ivan asked, cracking his knuckles.

"No, we won't stoop to their level, Ivan," Maria shook her head, restraining her own anger. She knew better than to resort to violence to solve her problems. "C'mon, let's go." She grabbed his wrist and started to lead him away from the four, but the ringleader kept calling after them.

"And then you went and gave your body to that football jockey on a rebound! And now your hooking up with that Russian freak, aren't you? "

"Just ignore them," Maria muttered to herself.

"You sure we don't have to crush them?" Ivan glanced back.

"Ha, I wonder if all your friends are that easy. What were their names again? Oh right! Michelle and...Mei! Yeah that Mei girl is pretty hot, maybe you should introduce me!"

"Isn't Mei dating that one kid, Tao?" one of his goons asked stupidly.

"That loser? He hardly adds up to a guy! She's probably just dating him out of pity or something, but as soon as I show her my lovin' she'll ditch him in an instant!"

Maria stopped in her tracks. No one, absolutely no one, talks about her friends that way, not while she's around. Her eyes were unreadable and her voice was dangerously low. "Ivan," she said.

"Da?" A smile slowly crept onto his face.

"Just this once, we can crush them."

* * *

As Maria and Ivan walked into the parking lot, Maria was rubbing her knuckles, and complaining, "Man, sometimes idiots can have really thick skulls!" The two of them had emerge from the little brawl practically unscathed, except for Maria's aching hands, but at least she didn't have a huge headache anymore. To be honest, Maria' only regret what that their adversaries got away, running and cursing at the "crazy bitch-slut and the freak."

"You don't think...I'll be expelled for that?" Ivan asked, the slightest hint of concern hidden in his voice.

"No, they won't tell anyone. Not when a girl was involved in kicking their asses," Maria reassured him. Before today, she normally would have steered clear from such a scary classmate, the one who everyone was afraid of, but now she actually enjoyed his company.

"Good, because that was fun. And..." Ivan paused, not sure what exactly to say, since thanking people wasn't really his thing. But he managed to utter it out, "Thanks for your help, comrade."

"No problem...comrade," Maria added with a giggle. At this point they had to start going their separate ways to go home.

"Well if you ever need help in a fight, just call me, da?" Ivan waved gladly, "And for the record, I don't believe the rumors about you."

"Thanks, Ivan," Maria laughed. As she hopped into her car and put the keys into ignition, she figured she could live with just ignoring the rumors about her for now, as long as those who mattered knew the truth. And besides, if anyone ever gave her crap about it, she had a new friend she could call to help sort out the problem.

* * *

From the Author: Yeah, I know this is an outrageously long chapter, but I couldn't find a good stopping point until the end, but I don't think too many people will complain...Anyway, I apologize again for the amount of cursing, but hey, it's high school. And I also apologize for any grammatical errors you may have found. Other than that, I really hope you enjoyed the story so far!

Special thanks to: **ChocoKoko, Luvpeace, NinjaRoll, animefan106, Guest, Firihon and USUK FTW, Tsuruya-san88, hetaliaforever123, Gaaaaahh, and Hawthorn Tree. **

Thanks for reading, favorite, alerting and reviewing! I apreciate all the time you've all taken to read this little fic of mine, so thanks! Of course the readers of the lifeline of this story, and I'd like to know what you think, so please review!


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